Numerical evaluation of temperature fields and residual stresses in butt weld joints and comparison with experimental measurements

This paper presents a novel numerical model, based on the finite element (FE) method, for the simulation of a welding process aimed to make a two-pass V-groove butt joint, paying attention on the prediction of residual stresses and distortions. The ‘element birth and death’ technique for the simulation of the weld filler supply has been considered within this paper. The main advancements with respect to the state of the art herein proposed concern: (i) the development of a modelling technique able to simulate the plates interaction during the welding operation when an only plate is modelled. This phenomenon is usually neglected in literature; (ii) the heat amount is supplied to the FEs as volumetric generation of the internal energy, allowing overcoming the time-consuming calibration phase needed to use the Goldak's model, commonly adopted in literature. Predicted results showed a good agreement with experimental ones.