ABSTRACT

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding which uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode and an
inert gas for arc shielding, is an extremely important arc welding process. The aims of this
research project are to find optimization parameters in weld bead using TIG. Substrate
material is from Mild Steel AISI 1018 while wire filler ER70S-6 has a diameter of 0.8 mm
and Tungsten electrode EWth-2 (2% Thorium, Red) has a diameter 2.4mm. Argon is used as
shielding gas for this research project. Parameters such as Ampere (A), Travel Speed (mm/s)
and Wire Feed Rate (mm/min) has been determined and selected as factors that can influence
the weld bead result. Taguchi orthogonal array L9 (Minitab 16) was used to determine the
amount of runoff and the analysis of samples. The result for surface roughness was found to
be better with an average value of Ra 2.96 µm for single bead and Ra 3.08 µm for padding
bead when compared to the work of other researchers. Surface hardness has also shown
improvement from this research project. Analysis result shows that the travel speed of the
torch has the greatest effect on surface roughness followed by wire feed rate and ampere.
Dye Penetrant Inspection (DPI) interpretations of the nearest Optimize level shows no cracks
or porosity occurring on top of the bead surface. Defects only happen at the undercut weld
due to improper start-up of the welding. For future study other parameters and optimization
technics need to be considered. The parameter combination must reflect safety, environment
issue and reasonable factors.

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Among the welding typical problems and most important are the residual stress/strain
and the induced distortions in structures of the components. In order to get better understand
the welding process and its effects on structures, engineers and researchers around the world,
covering a large number of industries, have been trying to create algorithms and
methodologies to simulate the complete welding process or just individual phases (e.g. the
cooling phase). In recent years, due to the high expansion of computer software,
computations possibilities, many researchers identified the Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
as a reliable method for this purpose. Hence ANSYS is used for the welding simulation.

1.2 Basic mechanism of TIG welding:

TIG welding is an arc welding process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode
to produce the weld. The weld area is protected from atmosphere by an inert shielding gas
(argon or helium), and a filler metal is normally used. The power is supplied from the power
source (rectifier), through a hand-piece or welding torch and is delivered to a tungsten
electrode which is fitted into the hand piece. An electric arc is then created between the
tungsten electrode and the work piece using a constant-current welding power supply that
produces energy and conducted across the arc through a column of highly ionized gas and
metal vapors [1]. The tungsten electrode and the welding zone are protected from the
surrounding air by inert gas. The electric arc can produce temperatures of up to 20,000oC
and this heat can be focused to melt and join two different part of material. The weld pool
can be used to join the base metal with or without filler material. Schematic diagram of TIG
welding and mechanism of TIG welding are shown in fig. 1 & fig. 2 respectively.

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Fig 1: Schematic Diagram of TIG Welding System. [Ref: 1]

Fig. 2: Principle of TIG Welding. [Ref: 1]

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 Tungsten electrodes are commonly available from 0.5 mm to 6.4 mm diameter and
150 - 200 mm length. The current carrying capacity of each size of electrode depends on
whether it is connected to negative or positive terminal of DC power source.
The power source required to maintain the TIG arc has a drooping or constant current
characteristic which provides an essentially constant current output when the arc length is
varied over several millimeters. Hence, the natural variations in the arc length which occur
in manual welding have little effect on welding current. The capacity to limit the current to
the set value is equally crucial when the electrode is short circuited to the work piece,
otherwise excessively high current will flow, damaging the electrode. Open circuit voltage
of power source ranges from 60 to 80 V.

1.1 Need of the Project

The need of the project arises due to the problem of inaccuracies that take place during the
heating or welding process of the production and hence increase partly from the thermal
distortions and partly in the form of dimensional variations due to human factors.
Furthermore, with the increasing use of the automation, it is necessary to quantify and
calculate the thermal distortions by means of mathematical models by using FEA, so that the
required tolerances of the automation process can be achieved as efficient as possible. In
order to improve planning and work scheduling by reducing the rework, to reduce the
production cost significantly by reducing the measurements and rework, and to improve the
quality of the weldment the significance of FEA is studied.

1.2 Scope of the Project

The problem of creation of residual stresses during welding steel plates leads to dimensional
inaccuracies and misalignments of structural members, which can result in complex tasks or
rework when tolerance limits are crossed. Hence cause increase in the cost of production and
leads to loss of time. In fabrication sector, for example, expenses required for rework such
as straightening could have a heavy cost. Therefore, the problems of distortion and residual
stresses are always of great concern in welding sector. In order to deal with this problem, it
is necessary to interpret the extent of distortion resulting from the welding operations. One
way to interpret the distortion and shrinkage of steel welding is through numerical analysis
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such as finite element analysis (FEA). Once the techniques to predict the distortion and
shrinkage are recognized, then the problems can be controlled accordingly. During the
welding process, there are so many factors such as welding process type, welding process
parameters, preheat patterns, welding sequence, level of constraint and joint details that
contribute to the creation of the residual stresses in the welded structure. By determining
which parameters have an effect on the quality of the weld and which factors will give the
most significant effect on the weld quality are the main aspects in welding industry.

1.3 Problem Statement

In this project work the direct coupled field transient thermal structural analysis will be
carried out using finite element analysis for arc welding for a butt joint. To carry the FEA
two plates of Stainless steel were considered to be welded. The dimensions of the plate were
taken as 200 x 100 x 3 mm for each plate. Welding was assumed to be done along 100 mm
length of the plate. The groove angle for welding was taken as 60º.

1.5 Objectives of the Project

This report introduces finite element analysis for the modeling of welds and it explains a brief
history of the simulation of welds. Welding is one of the reliable and highly effective metal
fabrication process which is widely used in industries. Localized and excessive heating
during the welding process, followed by rapid cooling causes to generate residual stress and
distortion in the weld and base metal. In the last few years various research efforts have been
directed towards the control of welding process parameters in order to reduce the residual
stress and distortion.
Objectives of the project are to find out -

1. Residual stresses in the welded parts due to phase change due to solidification of
weld with respect to distance from weld.

2. Temperature change with respect to time due to phase change to solidification of weld
with respect to distance from weld.

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 3. Strain in the welded parts due to phase change to solidification of weld with respect
to distance from weld.

4. Suitability of software to interpret residual stresses.

1.4 Methodology of the Project

• The adapted experimental methodology is as follows,

– Collection of data or information for the arc welding simulation using Finite
element analysis software.

– 3D modeling of the weld and Stainless-steel plates to be welded using

CAD software

– Finite element model creation by using finite element software

– Carry out thermal analysis to find temperature distribution due to welding

process in the steel plate.

– Structural analysis of weld and welded plate to find residual stresses.

– To find out temperature distribution across the center line of the weld at 100
seconds after completion of welding process
– residual stress calculation due to welding by using FEA

– To find out strain across the center line of the weld after cooling of the welded
steel plate.

– Comparison of results from experiments with FEA results of residual

stresses observed due to welding

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1.7 Use of Finite Element Analysis

Finite element analysis makes it possible to evaluate a detailed and complex structure with a
very short period of time. The adequate strength of the structure and the possibility of
improving the design during planning could justify the cost included in this analysis work.
FEA has also been known to analyze the structure that were significantly over designed and
built many decades ago.In absence of finite element analysis (or other numerical analysis)
development of structures must be based on manual calculations only. In case of complex
structures, the simplifying assumptions necessary to make any calculation possibly can lead
to a conservative and heavy design. An important factor of ignorance can remain as to
whether the structure will be adequate for all design loads. Considerable changes in designs
involve risk. Design will require prototypes to be built and field tested completely. The field
tests may include expensive strain gauging to evaluate strength and deformation of the
components.

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The research work in welding simulation was initialized many years ago. Understanding of
the theory of heat flow is essential in order to study the welding process analytically,
numerically or experimentally. Rosenthal (1946) was the first researcher who succeeded in
developing an analytical solution of heat flow during welding based on conduction heat
transfer for determining the shape of the weld pool for two and three-dimensional welds. By
using the Fourier partial differential equation (PDE) of heat conduction, he initialized the
moving coordinate system to develop solutions for the point and line heat sources and also
applied this successfully to apply to a wide range of welding problems. His analytical
solutions for the heat flow made possible for the first time the analysis of the process from
the point of view of the welding parameters namely the voltage, current, welding speed, and
weld geometry. Due to the pioneering work done by Rosenthal, significant interest in the
thermal aspects of welding was developed by many researchers such as Goldak (1984) The
most critical and important input data required for welding thermal analysis are the
parameters necessary to determine the heat input to the weldment by the arc. Goldak et al.
(1984) developed mathematical model for welding heat sources based on a Gaussian
distribution of power density. They proposed a double ellipsoidal distribution in order to
capture the size and shape of the heat source of shallow and deeper penetrations.
Some of the researchers have also developed the thermal finite element simulation to
determine the temperature distribution of aretaloger the past forty years, finite element
techniques have been used extensively in order to predict distortion and residual stresses due
to welding operations such as the studies byFriedman (1975), Michaleris and Debiccari
(1997) and Taylor et al. (1999). The finite element method has already been proven to be a
successful tool for the simulation of the complex welding process as performed by Friedman
(1975). His 2-D finite element analysis work was then used by Taylor et al. (1999) for the
verification of their 3-D computational modeling of welding phenomena.
The final results of finite element analysis done by Taylor et al. (1999) were unreasonable
agreement with the result obtained by Friedman (1975). Most of the welding research work
in the past was conducted to investigate the distribution and effect of residual stress and
distortion of welded metal component. It is possible to estimates the welding shrinkage in a
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welded butt joint by applying a mathematical model approach. Michaleris and Debiccari
conducted thermo-elastic-plastic finite element analysis for welding simulation to determine
the welding distortion. It has been claimed by them that their approaches have been similar
to experimental and empirical data. Not only the welding residual stress and distortion have
been studied by welding researchers, but also the effects of welding sequence, welding joint
geometry, welding parameter and root opening has also been studied by several researchers
in the last nearshoring et al. (1999) for example, studied the effect due to welding parameters
and electrode classification on the diffusible hydrogen content of gas shielded flux cored arc
welds.
In 1999, Tsai et al. studied the influence of welding sequence on warping and buckling
behavior of a thin-plate panel structure. Tsai et al. (2004) have also investigated the effects
of welding parameters and joint geometry on the distribution and magnitude of residual
stresses on thick-section butt joints.
As proven by the researchers, residual stress distribution and distortion in a weldedplate are
strongly affected by their interaction and by many parameters. Yet, certain aspects ofthe
welding phenomenon are still subjected to further research specifically the effects of welding
speed, restraint, heat input, gap on arc welding responses and plate curvature as applied to
curved steel plate welding. In the recent ten years, there is growing need to concern about the
numerical research on line heating and welding process. Morikawa et al. (2005) interpreted
the hot cracking of a weldment using temperature-dependent interface elements. Mahapatra
et al. (2007) modeled the influence of the position of tack weld constraints on the angular
distortions that were created in one-sided fillet welding created by
SAW.
It is cleared from this literature review that the thermal reactions and the resulting distortions
in a welded joint are strongly affected by various parameters and their interactions. A number
of finite-element (FE) models used for illustrating the effect of using different modeling
strategies for the simulation of the thermo-elastic-plastic stages of the welding process are
applied by Mollicone et al. (2006)Adak and Mandal (2010) studied the heat sinking as a
method of distortion mitigation and used the pseudo-linear equivalent constant rigidity
concept for thermo-mechanical analysis of plates undergoing welding with simultaneous heat
sinking. The proposed concept was found to be computationally more efficient and simpler
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to model as compared to FEM for solving similiter-elastic-plastic nonlinear problems. In
2011, Heinze et al. investigated a single-layer gas metal arc (GMA) weld of 5 mm thick
structural steel is experimentally and numerically. The numerical modeling begun with a
mesh analysis based on modal analyses. The sensitivity of welding induced distortion is
examined related to different continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagrams.
Fusion welding includes heating by an intense heat source, melting and solidification
of parent metals, and often, addition of filler material in the localized fusion zone during
welding. The heat source causes nonuniform temperature distributions across the joint and
the parent metals. The computational weld pool models have become a significant route for
a priori estimation of weld pool dimensions, peak temperature, cooling rate, and many other
associated aspects of the weld pool and the surrounding heat-affected zone. Particularly,
finite element method-based weld pool models are found very useful to interpret weld
thermal cycle and fluid flow pattern at an early stage of welding process development and
product design. However, the complex geometry of real engineering components and the
complexity of welding processes itself have made the prediction of weld thermal cycle and
corresponding flow field to be a very difficult task. It is further noticed that the accuracies of
these quantitative calculations are largely dependent on the accuracy of several input
parameters in welding. Some of the input parameters are also not certain in nature, and
optimization algorithms are integrated with the numerical process model to determine the
suitable values of these uncertain input parameters for modeling calculations.
Welding results in very complex thermal cycles which cause irreversible elastic
plastic strain and residual stresses in and around fusion zone and heat affected zone (HAZ).
Residual stresses may be an advantage and disadvantage in structural components depending
on their magnitude and nature. The beneficial effects of compressive stresses have been
widely used in industry as these effects are believed to reduce stress corrosion cracking and
brittle fracture and increase fatigue strength of the component. In large steel fabrication
industries such as marine structures, aero-space industry, shipbuilding, high speed train guide
ways and pressure vessels and piping in chemical and petrochemical industry; the problem
of residual stresses and overall distortion has been observed and continue to be a major issue.
It is well known fact that material response of structural components is strongly affected by
the residual stresses when subjected to structural and thermal loads. Due to the presence of

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these residual stresses produced in and around the weld zone the strength and life of the
component is definitely reduced.
Welds are always an essential part of engineering components. Residual stresses
produced in the welded regions of the metal components, due to the nonlinear thermal
processes during welding, can have detrimental effects, such as hydrogen-induced cracking,
stress corrosion cracking, and reduced fatigue strength. Due to this reason it is pertinent to
simulate the welding process to predict the behavior of welded structures from finite element
residual stress and strain results.

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 CHAPTER 3
WELDING TECHNOLOGY

3.1 Introduction to Welding

In general, welding is defined as any process in which two or more pieces of metal
are joined together by the application of heat, pressure, or a combination of both. Almostall
the processes may be grouped into two main categories: heat welding, in which the welding
process is achieved by heat; and pressure welding, where the welding process is achieved by
pressure. Heat welding is the welding which is used today. The most important welding
parameters are the welding speed and the arc energy per unit length of the weld. [Jonsson,M.,
Karlsson, Lindgren L.E;1985]
During welding process, the weldment is locally heated due to the welding heat source.
Because of the non-uniform temperature distribution during the thermal cycle, incompatible
strains cause to develop thermal stresses in the components. These incompatible strains due
to dimensional changes related with solidification of the welded metal, plastic deformation
and metallurgical transformations are the major sources of residual stresses and distortion.
[M Sundar1, G Nandi, A Bandyopadhyay And S C Roy; 2005]
The parameters of the line heating process have major effect on thermal distribution and the
resulting residual deformation of the heated plate. The thermal transients are generally
dependent on various factors like torch height, gas pressure, torch speed, and nozzle size,
which then controls the residual deformation of the plate.
Arc welding, which is a heat-type welding, is the most important manufacturing
operation for the joining of structural components for a wide range of applications, including
ships, bridges, building structures, guide way for trains, automobiles, and nuclear reactors,
to give an example. It is necessary to provide a continuous supply of either direct or
alternating electric current, which is normally used to develop an electric arc to generate
enough heat to melt the metal and form a weld.
The arc welding process is a complex operation involving extremely high
temperatures, which produce high levels of residual stresses and severe distortions. These

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extreme phenomena result in reduction of the strength of a structure, which becomes
vulnerable to corrosion, buckling, fracture and other type of failures.

1.3 Types of welding current used in TIG welding

a. DCSP (Direct Current Straight Polarity): In this type of TIG welding direct
current is used. Tungsten electrode is connected to the negative terminal of power
supply. This type of connection is the most common and widely used DC welding
process. With the tungsten being connected to the negative terminal it will only
receive 30% of the welding energy (heat). The resulting weld shows good penetration
and a narrow profile.
b. DCRP (Direct Current Reverse Polarity): In this type of TIG welding setting
tungsten electrode is connected to the positive terminal of power supply. This type
of connection is used very rarely because most heat is on the tungsten, thus the
tungsten

can easily overheat and burn away. DCRP produces a shallow, wide profile and is
mainly used on very light material at low Amp.
c. AC (Alternating Current): It is the preferred welding current for most white metals,
e.g. aluminium and magnesium. The heat input to the tungsten is averaged out as the
AC wave passes from one side of the wave to the other. On the half cycle, where the
tungsten electrode is positive, electrons will flow from base material to the tungsten.
This will result in the lifting of any oxide skin on the base material. This side of the
wave form is called the cleaning half. As the wave moves to the point where the
tungsten electrode becomes negative the electrons will flow from the welding
tungsten electrode to the base material. This side of the cycle is called the penetration
half of the AC wave forms.
d. Alternating Current with Square Wave: With the advent of modern electricity AC
welding machines can now be produced with a wave form called Square Wave. The
square wave has better control and each side of the wave can give a more cleaning
half of the welding cycle and more penetration [2].

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3.3 Types of Welding Joints
Welds are made at the junction of the various pieces that cause to make up the weldment.
The junctions of parts, or joints, are termed as the location where two or more members are
to be joined. Metal parts being joined to produce the weldment may be in the form of castings,
forgings, rolled plate, sheet, pipes, or billets. The five basic types of welding joints for plates
are explained below.

3.3.1 Butt Joint

It is a joint between two members lying approximately in the same plane as shown in
Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1 -Butt Joint Arrangement.

3.3.2 Corner Joint

It is a joint between two members located nearly at right angles to each other in the form of
an angle as shown in Figure 3.2.

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Figure 3.2 -Corner Joint Arrangement.

Figure 3.3 - Edge Joint Arrangement.

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3.3.3 Edge Joint
It is a joint between the edges of two or more parallel or mainly parallel members or
components as shown in Figure 3.3

3.3.4 Lap Joint

It is a joint between two overlapping members as shown in Figure 3.4.

Figure3.4 - Lap Joint Arrangement.

3.3.5 T Joint
It is a joint between two members located nearly at right angles with respect to each other in
the form of a T.

3.4 Technique of Arc Welding

The technique of arc welding is related with complex physical phenomena associated
with electricity, magnetism, welding including heat, light, and sound. By the application
of intense heat, the metal at the joint between two parts is melted and is allowed to intermix.
In general, misdescribed by an electric field between the positive anode and the negative
cathode which is surrounded by an ionization gas. In arc welding, the intense heat required
to melt metal is produced by an electric arc. On the surface of metal, there is a thin layer
of surface electrons and which are being accelerated in the field towards the anode. These
electrons get collide with the atoms in the gas, resulting in impact ionization where these
atoms are decomposed into electrons and positive ions, which tend to cause further
ionization. The amount of current of electrically charged particles in the arc and the
temperature are related with each other as high temperatures increases ionization. The
temperature rise is due to the released energy. To obtain suitable welding conditions the
temperature or the current must initially be brought up to a certain level, which is achieved
by igniting the arc.
Arc ignition is achieved by the short circuit current which is produced as the anode
and the cathode are brought into direct contact. Due to direct contact, the short-circuit
current shortly increases the temperature and the current and subsequently the arc can be
maintained constant in the electric field existing under normal welding conditions when
applied. The arc is being surrounded by a magnetic field which directs the charged
particles towards the center of the arc, hence causing the arc to localize in the spots on the
anode and the cathode. During the period, when the electrically charged particles get
impacted on the anode and the cathode, the anode and the cathode spots are being heated
to high temperatures. This high temperature of approximately 3000 to 5000 C causes both
the electrode and the welded metal, both to melt. Because of the suction force of the plasma
flow, the droplets of the electrode material are deposited on the metal.

3.5 Heat Affected Zone (HAZ)

A welded joint normally consists of melt-pool zone (MPZ), heat affected zone (HAZ), and
unaffected base metal portion. The HAZ is generally defined as the portion of the base metal
which has not been melted and whose mechanical properties or microstructures have been
changed by the heat of the welding. The HAZ is crucial and important to the strength of the
weldment since the fracture and cracking occur inside the HAZ region. During welding
process, the temperature at this region is very much severe. As a result, it contains a different
type of microstructures, some of which may have weak toughness and strength properties.
shows a melt-pool zone (MPZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ) in the weldment during
welding. The effects of temperature distribution on microstructure of material in the HAZ
have been studied by Weisman (1976).

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TAGUCHI METHOD

Genichi Taguchi a Japanese Scientist, developed a technique called Orthogonal Array which
is mostly used in the manufacturing industries. The aim of this technique is to provide a high-
quality product at very low cost. Taguchi have orthogonal array through which the mean and
variance of the process parameter get affected when different parameters is applied. However,
he provided equal weighted to each factor by this, Taguchi showed that the variability is
caused by individual factor and that can be controlled individually. Regardless of the
environment in which it is used this process is designed with the aim to produce consistent
output.

SIGNAL TO NOISE (S/N) RATIO

Taguchi method stresses the importance of studying the response variation using the signal-
to-noise (S/N) ratio, resulting in minimization of quality characteristic variation due to
uncontrollable parameter. The three types of S/N ratio are: -

1.Larger the better:

2.Smaller the better:

3.Nominal is best:

Where, n=Number of trials or measurement, Yi= measured value of ith run, ȳ= mean of
measured value, s = standard deviation.
ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), the total sum of squared deviations SST from the total mean
S/N ratio nm can be
calculated as, SST = Σ (ni - nm)2

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where, ni = S/N ratio of ith run or experiment.
nm = total mean of S/N ratio.
In this paper 3x3 parameter level are selected, so L9 orthogonal array has been selected. The
array is given below in table 1.

Table-1.
NO. OF RUNS CONTROL FACTORS

A B C
1 L1 L1 L1
2 L1 L2 L2
3 L1 L3 L3
4 L2 L1 L2
5 L2 L2 L3
6 L2 L3 L1
7 L3 L1 L3
8 L3 L2 L1
9 L3 L3 L2

Where A, B and C are process parameter & L1, L2, and L3 are levels of each parameter

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3.6 Theory of Welding Strains

Due to its nature, the welding process is one of the complicated transient procedure which
typically occurs in a 3-D (3-dimensional) structure. A typical welding simulation is considered
to be consists of two phases one is a transient heat flow analysis phase and another is
quasistatic plastic structural analysis phase. A reasonably good welding simulation has
required to have a fine enough mesh in order to accommodate the high thermal gradients that
are developed (in time and in space) during the transient heat flow analysis phase. At the same
time, the mesh is required to be able to solve the plastic structural phase of the problem.
During the period of the heating and cooling cycles of a welding process, there are many
factors which affect shrinkage of the metal and thereby making accurate predictions of
distortion complex and difficult. The mechanical and physical properties of the metal that
affect the degree of distortion change with respect tothe application of the heat. When the
temperature of the weld gets increased the modulus of elasticity, the yield strength and the
thermal conductivity of the steel decrease, whereas, the coefficient of thermal expansion and
the specific heat increase.
The changes in temperature and stresses during welding process have been studied by
Weisman (1976). To explain the temperature changes during welding, various cross-sections
are required to be analyzed. In some distance apart of the welding torch i.e. section along A-
A, the temperature gradient, ΔT due to the welding is nearly zero. Along section B-B, which
crosses the welding arc, at this section, the temperature change is very high and the distribution
is very uneven. Along section C-C, having some distance behind the welding arc, the
temperature change becomes more even and less steep. Finally, along section D-D, which is
very much far from the welding arc, at that section, the temperature change due to welding has
reached to nearly zero.

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 (a) Temperature distribution during welding

(b) Stress σx distribution during welding.

Figure 3.7 – Schematic Representation of Changes of Temperature and Stresses during

Welding (Weisman, 1976).
Stresses in region below the weld pool at section B-B are also nearly zero because molten
metal cannot support a load. Stresses in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) are normally
compressive, because the expansion of these areas is restrained by surrounding metal where
the temperature is generally lower. As the metal temperature in these regions is high and the
yield strength of material is low, the stresses are as high due to the yield strength of the material
at the corresponding temperature. The magnitude of compressive stress gets to a maximum
value with increasing distance from the weld or with decreasing temperature. Stresses in
regions which are away from the weld line tend to tensile to balance with the compressive
stresses in areas near the weld.
At section C-C, where the welded metal and heat-affected zone have cooled, the
result is creation of tensile stresses in regions near the weld as they tend to shrink and

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 compressive stresses at greater distance. Finally, section D-D which represents a region
which is cooled-down and where high- tensile stresses are present in the HAZ zone and
compressive stresses exist in base plate normally away from the weld.

3.7 Types of Welding Strains

During welding process, there are non-uniform heating and cooling cycles in the weld and
adjacent base metal, which produces complex thermal strains. The stresses formed due to the
strains produce internal forces resulting in shrinkage of the material. The stresses that would
exist in weldment after all external loads are removed are called residual stresses. Depending
on the shape of the structure welded and the shrinkage pattern, various strains such as buckling,
bending and rotation take place.
When steel structure parts are connected by welding, they are subjected to not only
welding residual stresses but also distortion. This distortion found in the welded structures
results due to four fundamental dimension changes that occur during welding process.
1. Transverse shrinkage of butt joints which occurs due to dimensional reduction in the
direction which is perpendicular to the welding line.
2. Longitudinal shrinkage of butt joints which occurs due to dimensional reduction in a
direction parallel to the weld line. The magnitude of the longitudinal shrinkage is small as
compared to the transverse shrinkage, which is about 1/1000 of the weld length as reported
by Weisman (1976).

(a) (b)

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 (c) (d)

Figure3.8 -Various Types of Welding Distortion - (a) Transverse Shrinkage in a Butt-Joint;

(b) Angular Change in a Butt-Joint; (c) Angular Change in a T-Joint; (d) Longitudinal
Distortion in a Fillet Joint.

3. Angular distortion of butt joints which is caused due to an angular change that occurs due
to a non-uniform thermal contraction through the thickness of the plate. The thermal
contraction which is non-uniform originates from the uneven heating through the thickness
during welding.

4. Similar to the angular distortion of welds in butt joints, there is non-uniform thermal
contraction through the thickness of the flanges creates a moment M about the flange
neutral axes and cause angular distortion of fillet welds.

5. Longitudinal bending distortion is produced by bending stresses induced by the

longitudinal shrinkage forces of the welds which do not coinciding with the neutral axis
of the weldment.

3.8 Residual Stress

Theresidual stress is produced in the weldment primarily because the weld material
that has been melted contracts on cooling down from melting point to roomtemperature.
Residual stress getsincreases with increase in plate thickness. Arc voltage and welding current,

23
both have direct effect on the residual stress in the welding process. An increase in the voltage
and current increases heat input rate thus increasing residual stresses. Also, increase in welding
speed cause reduction in residual stresses but at the same time reduces quality of weld as
well.[Gurinder Singh Birar; 2013]Figure3.9shows the deflection of a welded plate at the
moment when a longitudinal edge is heated by amoving welding arc. The metal which is near
the heat sourceisheatedtohighertemperaturesthan the metal which is away fromthe heat source.
The hotter metal gets expands, and the plate firstdeforms as shown by curve AB. Due to the
presence ofplastic strains, when the plate cools to roomtemperature, the final strain δ remains
as shown by curve ABCD.

Figure3.9- Strain of Welded Plate under the Influence of a LongitudinalMovingHeat Source.

To understand this phenomenon, let’s consider a butt joint welding with two cases with a gap
and without a gap. When the weld material first starts solidifying, the heated material expands
but the base metal prevents it to get expand. As can be seen in the Figure 3.10 (a), element 1
is in tension whereas element 2 is under compression. At the time, when the weld cools down,
the opposite phenomena can be observed; the weld material contracts but the base metal stops
it to contract. Consequently, element 1 is in compression and element 2 is in tension as shown
in Figure 3.10 (b). As a result of which themetal plates will deform in such a way that the top

24
surface is in tension and bottom surface is under compression. In case of the butt joint welding
without gap, less strain is expected due to the bottom surface is free to expand as it cools down.

Figure 3.10- Contraction and Expansion Phenomena.

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3.9 Welding Applications
Welding application for the following materials are explained below.

A) Steel: -
1. Structural carbon steel welded to structural carbon steel.
2. Concrete reinforcing steel
3. Carbon or low-alloy and high-strength, steels for all types of piping systems.
4. Rails.
5. Steel castings, carbon or high-strength and low-alloy.
6. Structural carbon steel welded to high- strength, low-alloy steel
7. High-strength and low-alloy steel welded to high-strength and low-alloy steel.
B) Stainless steels.
1. Cryogenic vessels and piping materials used for storage and transport of
extremely low temperature liquids
2. Vacuum chambers.
3. All other uses.
C) Nickel Steels and nickel alloys are used for cryogenic vessels and piping systems.
D) Alloys of Aluminum used for cryogenic vessels, piping systems, and
other uses.
E) Carbon and high-strength and low-alloy steels welded stainless-steel. An
example of this use is when steel supports or stiffeners are attached to stainless steel
vessels.

3.11. Temperature Effects of Butt Welding on Steel Plate

1. The heat affected zone of double-layer weld pass remains to greater extent than single-
layer weld pass.
2. The changes in temperature gradient are quite small at a certain distance from weld
pass due to heat convection effect.
3. The temperature gradient of vertical weld pass is normally greater than the direction
of weld heat source.

26
4. With the same number of weld passes, heat affected zones get decreased with the
increase of weld speed.
5. When the heat source has shifted half the size of the parent material, there exists still
high temperature gradient where the heat source has initially caused effects.

3.12 Important Factors to Determine the Welding Quality

A) Strict control over welding procedures and operations is necessary in five cases
1. Distress in one member can cause at least partial collapse or failure with
some hazard to property and life; application of the design load may approach
10,000 cycles over many years.
2. Some of the welds necessary for structural integrity are highly stressed;
application of the design loadmayexceed10,000 cycles over many years.
3. Empirical design requirements compensate for overloads, mishandling, “acts
of God,” abuse and similar hazards; application of the design load maybe in
the range of nearly about 100,000cycles.
4. Failure of welds or components could be catastrophic, as in structures such as
bridges or high--pressure gas piping systems; fatigue of materials must be
carefully considered in to account or application of design load is on the order
of 2 million cycles.
5. Applications require the highest quality of material and workmanship
throughout, such as for nuclear, space, and ballistic applications and for
systems subjected to extreme pressures, hazardous chemicals, or temperatures.

B) Less control over welding procedures and operations is needed where:

1. Stress levels are too low.
2. Welds are subjected occasionally to design loads.
3. The structure is composed of many components, and distress in one member
will result in inconvenience rather than collapse or catastrophic failure.

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 CHAPTER 4 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction

At present the finite element method (FEM) is the most widely used tool for solving this kind
of thermal problems When the aim of the analysis is to determine the mechanical effects of
welding(residual stress and distortions) the simple approach is to consider the thermal and
mechanical relation only, because there is a weak connection from mechanics to heat flow.
Heat generated by deformation can be neglected) and hence the most used approach is to carry
a sequentially coupled thermal and mechanical analysis, if the structure deformation during
welding does not change significantly. This aspect gives also the possibility for the use of
general-purpose finite element computer codes.
The results obtained by FEA emphasize the ability of this method to give quality results, in
agreement with experimental results and also offer the possibility to a better understanding of
residual stress field characteristics. Despite the limitations related to the need for information
related to the welding process and for complex material data and numerical modeling remains
actually the sole method which is able to fully characterize the residual stress field through the
whole structure without any limitations related to his geometry or shape and size. Once having
residual stress distributions information, subsequent simulations related to stress relief carried
by mechanical loading or by post weld heat treatments can be performed.
Following are the important aspects of FEA.
4.1.2 Use of Finite Element Analysis

Finite element analysis is helpful to make it possible to evaluate a detailed and complex
structure, in a computer, during the planning of that structure. The possibility of improving
the design during planning and the adequate strength of the structure can justify the cost of the
analysis work. FEA has been known to improve the design ofthe structure that were built many
decades ago and significantly over designed.

In absence of finite element analysis (or other numerical analysis) development of structures
depends onlyupon hand calculations only. For complex structures, the simplified assumptions
which are required to make any calculation possible can lead to a conservative and heavy
design. An important factor of ignorance can remain as to whether the structure will be
adequate for all design loads. Significant changes in designs involve a lot of risk. Design will

28
require prototypes to be built and they should be field tested. These field tests may involve
expensive strain gauging to evaluate characteristics like strength and strain.
With the help of finite element analysis, the weight of a design can be optimized and
there could be a reduction in the number of prototypes built. Field-testing is required to
establish loading on structures, which can be used to do future design improvement by using
finite element analysis.

4.1.3 Advantages of FEA

The power of the finite element technique resides principally in its versatility. The FEA
can be applied to various physical problems. The body to be analyzed can be having arbitrary
size and shape, loads and various support conditions. The command mesh can mix elements
of different physical properties, types and shapes.
Another important feature of finite element method lies in the close physical
resemblance between the actual structure and its finite element model.

4.1.4 Limitations of FEA

1. A computer, a reliable program and intelligent use and software skills are essential.
2. Deep experience and good engineering judgment are needed in order to define a good
finite element model.
3. Different input data are required and voluminous output must be sorted and understood.
4. Specific numerical results are required to be found for specific problem.
5. The finite element analysis does not provide any close form of solution that allows
analytical study of the effects of changing parameters.

29
 CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSIONS
From the present study the following major conclusions are drawn -
1) In case of experimental stress analysis, it will require the prototype of the structure to
be analyzed while analysis by FEA software eliminates that and so the cost & time of product
design also gets reduced. With the help of FEA software the behavior of the structure can be
studied for any number of welds. By using different mesh densities, the results can be obtained
with great accuracy. Thus, FEA is one of the important tools for thermal and structural analysis
which gives results very fast. The time and cost required to find residual stress in the parts due
to welding process using FEA software is very less as compared to the experimental method.
Calculation of Residual stress for any complicated welding process as well any complicated
structure is possible by using finite element methods without altering the physics of the
problem.
2) The maximum strain observed in the butt-welded steel plate is found to be 67.2 x10-3
at the region of weld. The maximum temperature at 100 seconds after completion of welding
process, observed in the butt-welded steel plate is found to be 450 K at the region of weld and
it goes on decreasing along the length of plate. Finally, the temperature at 100 seconds at a
distance of 100 mm from the center line of the weld after completion of welding process is
found to be 331 K which is the minimum temperature along the length of the butt-welded steel
plate. Distribution of temperature, strain and residual stresses with respect to distance from
weld are showed in tabulated form as well as by using graph for better understanding of the
welding process. The maximum residual stress observed in the butt-welded steel plate is found
to be 320 Mpa at a distance of 5mm from the center line of the weld.

30
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