Influence of Welding Defects on Residual Stresses: Numerical study

This paper presents a study on the application of the finite element methods to predict the influence of a defect on the residual stress distribution in a T-welded structure. A defect is introduced in a numerical model firstly without residual stress to see its impact (size and position) on the stress distribution. Secondly the most critical defect (determined previously) is simulated with a residual stress gradient. The obtained results are useful for computation stress concentration factor due to weld residual stresses.