Welding of Thick Plates under Site Conditions–Evaluation of the Influence on the Structure Behaviour of Welded Assembly Joints

Abstract

Construction site welds, as usually found e.g. in bridge or steel structures, are made in contrast to factory production under difficult conditions (Fig. 1). Construction welds site provide not only special requirements for the executive operating but also to the designer. There are decision support tools in the form of guidelines nowadays available. Important for the design engineer is the knowledge of the occurring welding shrinkage of the parts, the distortion and residual stresses. The construction of large steel structures is now been increasingly modular factory production. Joining these modules at the site to an overall structure is still necessary. For welding of thick plates multi-layer welding are used (Fig. 2). In previous research on the welding of thick plates and their simulation constant laboratory conditions were used as boundary conditions during the experimental welds examinations. The systematic studies on welding of thick plates under site conditions will be presented for the complete temperature range.