Proceedings of the ASME 2014 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference

PVP2014
July 20-24, 2014, Anaheim, California, USA

PVP2014-29082
RESIDUAL STRESSES IN BUTT WELDING OF TWO CIRCULAR PIPES - AN EXPERIMENTAL AND
NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION

Gurinder Singh Brar

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Gill Road, Ludhiana. 141006.
Punjab, India.
Email: brar.gurinder@gmail.com

ABSTRACT deposition weld beads, the residual stresses and temperature

distribution decrease. Also, the results obtained by finite
Welding is a reliable and efficient joining process in which
element method agree well with those from experimental X-
the coalescence of metals is achieved by fusion. Welding is
ray diffraction method.
carried out with a very complex thermal cycle which results in
irreversible elastic-plastic deformation and residual stresses in
Keywords: Finite Element Analysis; Circumferential Butt
and around fusion zone and heat affected zone (HAZ). A
Weld; Residual Stresses; Shielded Metal Arc Welding;
residual stress due to welding arises from the differential
Submerged Arc Welding.
heating of the plates due to the weld heat source. Residual
stresses may be an advantage or disadvantage in structural
components depending on their nature and magnitude. The NOMENCLATURE
beneficial effect of these compressive stresses have been
widely used in industry as these are believed to increase
C Specific Heat Capacity (kJ/kg K)
fatigue strength of the component and reduce stress corrosion
DT Duration of the Triangular Time Function (s)
cracking and brittle fracture. But due to the presence of
E Elastic Modulus (Pa)
residual stresses in and around the weld zone the strength and
HAZ Heat Affected Zone
life of the component is also reduced. To understand the
h Heat Transfer Coefficient (W/m2°C)
behavior of residual stresses, two 10 mm thick Fe410WC mild
I Current (Amp)
steel plates are butt welded using the Metal Active Gas
ID Inside Diameter
(MAG) process. An experimental method (X-ray diffraction)
L Thermal Conductivity (W/m°C)
and numerical analysis (finite element analysis) were then
OD Outside Diameter
carried out to calculate the residual stress values in the welded
PM Parent Metal
plates. Three types of V-butt weld joint – two-pass, three-pass
Q Net Line Energy (J/m)
and four-pass were considered in this study. In multi-pass
R Inside Radius of Pipe (mm)
welding operation the residual stress pattern developed in the
T Temperature (°C)
material changes with each weld pass. In X-ray diffraction
t Pipe Wall Thickness (mm)
method, the residual stresses were derived from the elastic
TS Softening temperature (°C)
strain measurements using a Young‟s modulus value of 210
U Voltage (V)
GPa and Poisson‟s ratio of 0.3. Finite element method based,
V Weld Electrode Speed (m/s)
SolidWorks software was used to develop coupled thermal-
WM Weld Metal
mechanical three dimension finite element model. The finite
WCL Weld Centre Line
element model was evaluated for the transient temperatures
Z Arc Efficiency
and residual stresses during welding. Also variations of the
α Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (°C-1)
physical and mechanical properties of material with the
v Poisson‟s Ratio
temperature were taken into account. The numerical results
Sy Yield Stress (Pa)
for peak transverse residual stresses attained in the welded
plates for two-pass, three-pass and four-pass welded joint were
67.7 N/mm², 58.6 N/mm², and 48.1 N/mm² respectively. The INTRODUCTION
peak temperature attained during welding process comes out
Circumferentially butt welded thick walled cylinders have
to be 970˚C for two-pass weld, 820.8˚C for three-pass weld
and 651.9˚C for four-pass weld. It can be concluded that due a key role in nuclear, aerospace, marine engineering and high
to increase in the number of passes during welding process or pressure vessels applications. Shielded metal arc welding and
submerged arc welding processes are the common joining

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 techniques used for high strength welding parts. The
efficiency of these welding processes is very high as compared
to other processes and joints formed have more strength.
Residual stresses and distortions are two of the major concerns
in welded parts. Residual stress are the stresses which remain
within in the welded part when all external load or reactions are
removed hence they must be self–balanced within the weld part
itself. Residual stresses exits in welded parts in which plastic
deformation must have occurred which is associated with a
temperature cycle involving temperature up to the melting
point of the material.
Welding residual stresses not only cause distortion but also
significantly affect the performance of welded parts, especially
for the failures occurring under low applied stresses such as
brittle fracture, fatigue and stress corrosion cracking [1].
Residual stresses are the major constitute of a stress field
around a crack which may lead to cracking. Tensile residual
stress reduces fatigue strength and corrosion resistance while
compressive residual stresses diminish the stability limit.
Tensile residual stresses may initiate the failure due to fracture
while the compressive residual stresses near a weld can reduce
the capacity of the weld parting bulking and collapsing. The
residual stress in some region may be as high as the yield
strength of the material. Behavior and residual stresses in butt-
welded pipes are calculated in weld parts by using finite
element method and experimentally. The results of the finite
element analysis can be compared with experimentally
measured data to evaluate the accuracy of the finite element
modeling. The developed FE modeling was used to study the
effects of weld groove shape and weld pass number on
welding residual stresses in butt-welded pipes. The hoop and
axial residual stresses developed in the welded joint are also
studied in welding joint.
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are many techniques for calculation of residual
stress in welding parts. In literature various type of finite
element analysis and experiment method has been used to
predict values of residual stresses in welding parts. Generally
numerical methods are mostly used to calculate residual stress
as compared to experimental methods due to highly expensive
rate. Some studies also compare the results of finite element
analysis compared with experimental method in order to
evaluate the accuracy of the finite element method. Sattari-Far
and Farahani [2] employed the finite element method to
determine (estimate) residual stress in butt welded pipe joint.
A finite element model was developed and used to study the
effect of weld groove shape and weld pass number on welding
residual stress in butt welded joint. The hoop and axial
residual stress in welded joint of different grove shape and
pass number were studied. By comparing the result of finite
element method with the experimental measurement, it has
been shown that the computational procedure is very effective
method for predicting the welding residual stresses.
Yaghi et al. [3] developed finite element method and
applied it to simulate residual stress and hoop stresses
generated in the weld region and heat affected zone of an axis
symmetric 50 bead circumferentially butt welded P91 steel
pipe with an outer diameter of 145 mm and wall thickness of
50 mm. The FE simulation consists of a thermal analysis and a
sequentially coupled structural analysis. Residual axial and
hoop stresses have been depicted through the pipe wall
thickness as well as along the outer surface of the pipe. Deng
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Dean et al. [4] investigated the influence of solid state phase
transformation on the residual stress distribution in butt
welded modified 9Cr1Mo steel pipe. In this study the residual
stress distribution was simulated by an uncoupled thermo
mechanical finite element formulation using ABAQUS. The
finite element model for welding residual stress analysis took
into account, the volumetric change and yield strength change
due to martensite transformation. The results showed that the
volume change due to martensite transformation has a
significant influence on welding residual stress. It not only
changes the magnitude of residual stresses but also alters the
sign of residual stress in welded zone.
Ellington and Shack [5] presented the measurement of the
bulk residual stress in 100 mm and 250 mm diameter schedule
piping weldments using strain relief technique. Both
laboratory welded specimen and field welded specimen from
reactor in service were studied. Dean et al. [6] developed an
effective and efficient thermal elastic finite element analysis
(FEA) producer based on ABAQUS code to predict welding
residual stresses for 2.25Cr1Mo steel pipe. The influence of
solid state phase transformation on welding residual stress was
also taken into account. Effect of volumetric change and yield
straight change to solid state phase transformation on welding
residual stress was investigated using numerical analysis. The
simulated results show that both volumetric change and yield
strength change have significant effect on welding residual
stress in 2.25Cr1Mo steel pipe. The simulated results were
confirmed to experiment measurement and the effectiveness of
the developed FEM producer was confirmed.
Purmohamad et al. [7] investigated residual stress
developed during the circumferential butt welding by Gas
Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process of Incoloy 800 H
pipes using the finite element method. The element birth and
death technique was used for the addition of the filler material
in the weld pool. The goldac double ellipsoidal model was
used to simulate the distribution of arc heat during welding.
To validate the thermo structural model both temperature and
residual stress distribution within the pipes were measured
using thermo couple and strain gauge. Qureshi [8] used
computational methodology based on finite element
simulation and parametric studied to analysis the effect of
varying tack weld orientation on residual stress field. From the
result presented, it was conducted that identical axial residual
stress field are observed on cylinder outer and inner
orientation under study with some exception on tack welds
and starts / stops location. On the outer surface the effect of
both start and end are pronounced whereas on the inner
surface only the effect of weld start are pronounced.
MODELING OF CIRCUMFERENTIALLY BUTT
WELDED JOINT
In the present study, two rolled sheets of ASTM A516
Grade 70 material were circumferentially butt welded. ASTM
A516 is a special material which is used for high pressure
vessel. This material can withstand 70,000 pounds per square
inch (psi) to 90,000 psi with yield strength of 38,000 psi.
Grade 70 represents the strongest carbon steel plates specified
by the ASTM (formerly the American Society for Testing and
Materials). ASTM A516 Grade70 can be tested for resistance
to hydrogen induced cracking (HIC), a common problem in
the oil, gas and chemical industry. ASTM A516 Grade 70 is
an excellent choice for service in lower than ambient
temperature applications, has excellent notch toughness and is

FIG. 4: RESIDUAL STRESS PLOT OF V-BUTT WELD JOINT
The lower value of welding current resulted in lower heat
inputs and lower residual stresses. Residual stress increases
with increase in plate thickness. Arc voltage and welding
current have direct effect on the residual stress in the welding
process as increase in the voltage and current increases heat
input thus increasing residual stresses. Also, increase in
welding speed reduces residual stresses but reduces quality of
weld as well.
In the present work, a finite element method to evaluate the
temperature distribution in different pass and residual stresses
in butt-welded pipe joints. The welding simulation was
considered as a sequential coupled thermo-mechanical
analysis. The finite element analysis results of the residual
stress distributions of two butt welded plates in the transverse
direction are presented. Residual stresses are high in and
around the weld zone and heat affected zone decreases rapidly
with the distance from the center of the heat source.
REFERENCES
1. Dong, P., and Brust, F. W., 2000, “Welding Residual
Stresses and Effects on Fracture in Pressure Vessel and
5 Copyright © 2014 by ASME
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Piping Components: A Millennium Review and Beyond”,
J. Pressure Vessel Technol., 122, pp. 329-338.
2. Sattari-Far, I. and Farahani, M. R., 2009, “Effect of the
Weld Groove Shape and Pass Number on Residual
Stresses in Butt-Welded Pipes”, International Journal of
Pressure Vessels and Piping, 86 (11), pp. 723-731.
3. Yaghi, A. H., Hyde, T. H., Becker, A. A. and Sun, W.,
2008, “Finite Element Simulation of Welding and
Residual Stresses in a P91 Steel Pipe Incorporating Solid-
State Phase Transformation and Post-Weld Heat
Treatment”, The Journal of Strain Analysis for
Engineering Design, 43 (5), pp. 275-293.
4. Dean, D., Hidekazu, M., and Yukihiko, H., 2004, “FEM
Simulation of Welding Residual Stress in Multi-pass
Butt-welded Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel Pipe Considering
Phase Transformation Effects”, Trans JWRI (Join Weld Res
Inst Osaka Univ), 33 (2), pp. 167-176.
5. Ellingson, W. A. and Shack, W. J., 1979, “Residual-stress
Measurements on Multi-pass Weldments of Stainless-
steel Piping”, Experimental Mechanics, 19 (9), pp. 317-
323.
6. Dean, D., Hidekazu, M., and Yukihiko, H., 2007,
“Numerical Investigation on Welding Residual Stress in
2.25Cr-1Mo Steel Pipes”, Trans JWRI (Join Weld Res Inst
Osaka Univ), 36 (1), pp. 73-90.
7. Purmohamad, H., Kermanpur, A. and Shamanian, M.,
2010, “Numerical Simulation and Experimental
Investigation of Residual Stresses in the Circumferential
Butt GTAW of Incoloy 800H Pipes”, Journal of Materials
Engineering and Performance, 19 (1), pp. 13-21.
8. Qureshi, E. M., Malik, A. M. and Dar, N. U., 2009,
“Residual Stress Fields due to Varying Tack Welds
Orientation in Circumferentially Welded Thin-Walled
Cylinders”, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Article
ID 351369, pp. 1-9.
9. Dong, P., and Hong, J. K., 2008, “Residual Stress Relief
in Post-Weld Heat Treatment,” PVP2008-61210, ASME
2008 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, ASME,
New York.
 ANALYSIS OF RESIDUAL STRESSES
A finite element based commercially available analytical
simulation suite of programs was used to carry out the thermal
and mechanical analysis. To study the residual stresses in butt-
welds, a 3D finite element model was developed and the
movement of the electrode was simulated using the death and
birth of elements technique. For this purpose a coupled
thermo-mechanical solution method was used. A sequentially
coupled analysis of thermal and mechanical analysis was
performed.
(a) Temperature distribution in first pass in butt joint
(b) Temperature distribution in second pass in butt joint
(c) Temperature distributions in third pass in butt joint
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(d) Temperature distributions in fourth pass in butt joint
FIG. 3: TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS IN V-BUTT JOINT
In the thermal analysis, the welding process is simulated by
applying a distributed heat to the weld elements, which is a
triangular function of heat per unit volume against time. The
heat flux is assumed to reach its peak value from zero in a
straight line during the up-ramp of the triangular time
function, followed by a straight line from its peak value back
to zero. From that time, the heat flux remains zero, until the
end of the particular weld cycle, during which time the weld is
allowed to cool down to an inter pass temperature of between
200°C and 300°C, until the next weld pass cycle begins. The
model is allowed to cool down to room temperature at the end
of welding.
A technique called „element birth‟ is used in the FE
simulation to represent the laying of weld beads to avoid any
displacement or strain mismatch at the nodes connecting the
weld elements to those of the base material. Element birth
allows the complete FE mesh to be generated before the
analysis is actually conducted. As part of the technique, in the
thermal analysis, the FE elements which correspond to the
weld passes before being laid are given a value for thermal
conductivity equivalent to that of air. At the time of
application of each weld pass, the thermal conductivity is
made to change from air value to that material. The thermal
analysis uses an eight-node continuum solid quadratic
axisymmetric diffusive heat transfer quadrilateral element
type.
CONCLUSIONS
The finite element study covers that two thick cylinder
large diameter cylinder of ASTM A 516 Grade 70 material
and effect of wall thickness and number of beads is illustration
using the calculated stress .Tensile stresses occurs near to the
inside surface of the cylinder and peak circumference stress
occurs near to the outside surface of the cylinder .Residual
stress are generally influenced by the cylinder diameter at the
inside and outside of the walled finite element model.

FIG. 4: RESIDUAL STRESS PLOT OF V-BUTT WELD JOINT
The lower value of welding current resulted in lower heat
inputs and lower residual stresses. Residual stress increases
with increase in plate thickness. Arc voltage and welding
current have direct effect on the residual stress in the welding
process as increase in the voltage and current increases heat
input thus increasing residual stresses. Also, increase in
welding speed reduces residual stresses but reduces quality of
weld as well.
In the present work, a finite element method to evaluate the
temperature distribution in different pass and residual stresses
in butt-welded pipe joints. The welding simulation was
considered as a sequential coupled thermo-mechanical
analysis. The finite element analysis results of the residual
stress distributions of two butt welded plates in the transverse
direction are presented. Residual stresses are high in and
around the weld zone and heat affected zone decreases rapidly
with the distance from the center of the heat source.
REFERENCES
1. Dong, P., and Brust, F. W., 2000, “Welding Residual
Stresses and Effects on Fracture in Pressure Vessel and
5 Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 11/25/2014 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms
Piping Components: A Millennium Review and Beyond”,
J. Pressure Vessel Technol., 122, pp. 329-338.
2. Sattari-Far, I. and Farahani, M. R., 2009, “Effect of the
Weld Groove Shape and Pass Number on Residual
Stresses in Butt-Welded Pipes”, International Journal of
Pressure Vessels and Piping, 86 (11), pp. 723-731.
3. Yaghi, A. H., Hyde, T. H., Becker, A. A. and Sun, W.,
2008, “Finite Element Simulation of Welding and
Residual Stresses in a P91 Steel Pipe Incorporating Solid-
State Phase Transformation and Post-Weld Heat
Treatment”, The Journal of Strain Analysis for
Engineering Design, 43 (5), pp. 275-293.
4. Dean, D., Hidekazu, M., and Yukihiko, H., 2004, “FEM
Simulation of Welding Residual Stress in Multi-pass
Butt-welded Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel Pipe Considering
Phase Transformation Effects”, Trans JWRI (Join Weld Res
Inst Osaka Univ), 33 (2), pp. 167-176.
5. Ellingson, W. A. and Shack, W. J., 1979, “Residual-stress
Measurements on Multi-pass Weldments of Stainless-
steel Piping”, Experimental Mechanics, 19 (9), pp. 317-
323.
6. Dean, D., Hidekazu, M., and Yukihiko, H., 2007,
“Numerical Investigation on Welding Residual Stress in
2.25Cr-1Mo Steel Pipes”, Trans JWRI (Join Weld Res Inst
Osaka Univ), 36 (1), pp. 73-90.
7. Purmohamad, H., Kermanpur, A. and Shamanian, M.,
2010, “Numerical Simulation and Experimental
Investigation of Residual Stresses in the Circumferential
Butt GTAW of Incoloy 800H Pipes”, Journal of Materials
Engineering and Performance, 19 (1), pp. 13-21.
8. Qureshi, E. M., Malik, A. M. and Dar, N. U., 2009,
“Residual Stress Fields due to Varying Tack Welds
Orientation in Circumferentially Welded Thin-Walled
Cylinders”, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Article
ID 351369, pp. 1-9.
9. Dong, P., and Hong, J. K., 2008, “Residual Stress Relief
in Post-Weld Heat Treatment,” PVP2008-61210, ASME
2008 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, ASME,
New York.