Fundamental Studies on the Relationship Between Plastic Strains and Angular Distortion in Fillet Welded T‐Joints

The procedure of plasticity‐based distortion analysis (PDA) directly mapping cumulative plastic strains into elastic models using equivalent thermal strains was developed and applied to the investigation of the characteristic relationship between cumulative plastic strains and angular distortion in fillet welded thin plate T‐joints. The PDA successfully demonstrated the validity of the unique relationship between cumulative plastic strains and distortion and the applicability of a linear elastic model in welding‐induced distortion analysis. The PDA procedure also provided the quantitative relationship between six cumulative plastic strain components and angular distortion of fillet welded T‐joints, showing the importance of shear component in angular distortion.