Arc Weld Sequencing Simulation and Its Impacts to Fatigue Life Prediction

Distortion is an intrinsic and undesired effect of the welding process, inducing residual stresses and hence, reducing the fatigue life of the welded structure. This distortion however, does not occurs simultaneously among the entire structure; instead, it occurs gradually during the execution of the welding chord. Due to this, equal structures, but composed by weld chords executed in a different sequencing, presents different residual stresses and therefore, different fatigue performances. This study proposes a method, using finite elements model (CAE), to capture the non-linear distortions of distinct welding sequences and contrast the diverse impacts in fatigue life.