Determination of Residual Stresses Numerically Obtained in ASTM AH36 Steel Welded by TIG Process

Pablo Batista Guimarães, Paulo Marcelo Almeida Pedrosa, Yogendra Prasad Yadava, José Maria Andrade Barbosa, Aníbal Veras Siqueira Filho, Ricardo Artur Sanguinetti Ferreira

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica, Cidade Universitária, Recife-PE, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/msa.2013.44033                

Abstract

Residual stresses have been numerically determined in welded joints. In this study, the numerical model is based on the coupling of different physical phenomena considering the thermal, mechanical and metallurgical nature of a welding process. The ABAQUS software program was used to perform the numerical simulations, based on the finite element method (FEM). The aspects related to the mathematical modeling of complex welding procedures were pondered with the FEM: variations in the physical and mechanical properties of the materials as a function of the temperature; the transience and the speed of the welding process, the material phase transformations; the different mechanisms of heat exchange with the environment (convection and radiation); all them associated with a high level of nonlinearity. The heat source used in this analytical model for heat supply was the double ellipsoid model proposed by Goldak, in which a 60 mm × 50 mm and 3 mm rectangular ASTM AH36 steel plate was used for the TIG process simulations. Throughout this work, the optimization of the welding procedures currently practiced in petrochemical and ship building industries can be applied to reduce the levels of residual stresses.

Keywords

Finite Element Method; TIG Welding; Temperature Field; Residual Stresses

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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