Numerical simulation on the residual stress induction due to welding process and assessment by the application of the crack compliance method

Residual stresses are mechanical effects that remain in a body after all external loads have been removed. In this sense and because a weldment is locally heated by a welding heat source, the temperature distribution is not uniform and changes as welding progresses. During the welding thermal cycle, complex transient thermal stresses are produced in the weldment and the surrounding joint. With the advancement of modern computers and computational techniques (such as the finite-element and the finite-difference methods), a renewed effort has been made in recent years to study and simulate residual stresses and the related phenomena. This paper discusses the procedure applying a finite element analysis by a 2D model to determine the residual stresses and distortions of steel AISI 316 bars under an arc welding process; additionally, the state of the stresses in the component is determined by the application of the crack compliance method (CCM); this is destructive experimental method based on fracture mechanics theory. This research also demonstrates that the residual stress distribution and the magnitude inducted into the component must be carefully assessed, or it could result in a component susceptible to failure.