A review on development of weld induced distortion analysis

The welded structures are subjected to highly non-uniform thermal cycle. This leads to incidence of residual stresses and structural deformation. Over the years many researchers have proposed various approaches to understand and thereby predict the pattern and extent of weld induced distortion. Welding being a fully transient phenomenon, its numerical analysis is highly time consuming and hence analysis of large size structural panels is simply not feasible using conventional FE analysis. The science of weld distortion analysis has come a long way from the pioneering work of Rosenthal in 1940s. Since then various researchers have contributed to its growth. The development in the area of analysis of large structures was mainly propelled by the requirements of shipbuilding industry. In the present day scenario of distortion analysis of large structures, inherent strain method is in a position to give a solution within the required level of accuracy.