Numerical study of welding simulation and residual stress on butt welding of dissimilar thickness of austenitic stainless steel

Weld-induced residual stress inevitably exists in the vicinity of the weld bead and may have a deleterious effect on the weld joint. In the shipyard industry, butt welds of dissimilar thickness plates are a widely used welding geometry type. Predicting the magnitude and distribution of residual stress and distortion are of significance in the design of structural components. In this work, a fusion welding simulation is studied and verified by coupling thermal-mechanical analysis, and the ‘full-elastic element’ technique is introduced in simulation model to improve the convergence of nonlinear calculations The prediction of weld-induced residual stress on the butt weld between similar and dissimilar thicknesses of steel plates is performed by thermal elastic-plastic finite element (FE) analysis. This exploration predicts the process of thermal cycle loads acting on the weld components as well as residual stress states. The results conclude that the geometry of weld joints significantly affects the residual stress distribution and magnitude, which presents some challenges to tolerance in structural design.