Residual Stresses in Strength Mismatched Welded Pipes

Author(s):  
Ali Mirzaee-Sisan ◽  
Junkan Wang

It is commonly understood that residual stresses can have significant effects on structural integrity. The extent of such influence varies and is affected by material properties, manufacturing methods and thermal history. Welded components such as pipelines are subject to complex transient temperature fields and associated thermal stresses near the welded regions. These thermal stresses are often high in magnitude and could cause localized yielding around the deposited weld metal. Because of differential thermal expansion/contraction episodes, misfits are introduced into the welded regions which in turn generate residual stresses when the structure has cooled to ambient temperature. This paper is based on a recently completed Joint Industry Project (JIP) led by DNV GL. It briefly reviews published experimental and numerical studies on residual stresses and strength-mismatched girth welds in pipelines. Several Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models of a reeling simulation have been developed including mapping an initial axial residual stress (transverse to the weld) profile onto a seamless girth-welded pipe. The initial welding residual stress distribution used for mapping was measured along the circumference of the girth welds. The predicted residual stresses after reeling simulation was subsequently compared with experimental measurements.

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Ren ◽  
Anna Paradowska ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Elvin Eren ◽  
Yin Jin Janin

This research investigated the effects of global (in other words, furnace-based) and local post weld heat treatment (PWHT) on residual stress (RS) relaxation in API 5L X65 pipe girth welds. All pipe spools were fabricated using identical pipeline production procedures for manufacturing multipass narrow gap welds. Nondestructive neutron diffraction (ND) strain scanning was carried out on girth welded pipe spools and strain-free comb samples for the determination of the lattice spacing. All residual stress measurements were carried out at the KOWARI strain scanning instrument at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO). Residual stresses were measured on two pipe spools in as-welded condition and two pipe spools after local and furnace PWHT. Measurements were conducted through the thickness in the weld material and adjacent parent metal starting from the weld toes. Besides, three line-scans along pipe length were made 3 mm below outer surface, at pipe wall midthickness, and 3 mm above the inner surface. PWHT was carried out for stress relief; one pipe was conventionally heat treated entirely in an enclosed furnace, and the other was locally heated by a flexible ceramic heating pad. Residual stresses measured after PWHT were at exactly the same locations as those in as-welded condition. Residual stress states of the pipe spools in as-welded condition and after PWHT were compared, and the results were presented in full stress maps. Additionally, through-thickness residual stress profiles and the results of one line scan (3 mm below outer surface) were compared with the respective residual stress profiles advised in British Standard BS 7910 “Guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures” and the UK nuclear industry's R6 procedure. The residual stress profiles in as-welded condition were similar. With the given parameters, local PWHT has effectively reduced residual stresses in the pipe spool to such a level that it prompted the thought that local PWHT can be considered a substitute for global PWHT.


Author(s):  
Graeme Horne ◽  
Danny Thomas ◽  
Andrew Collett ◽  
Andrew Clay ◽  
Martin Cott ◽  
...  

Abstract The prediction of welding residual stress in components is often an important input to structural integrity assessments. An efficient modelling approach was developed for predicting residual stress in power-beam welds, including validation against residual stress measurements. Specifically, sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical finite element analysis was conducted using a simplified heat source that was tuned to the observed fusion zone from a weld macrograph and thermocouple data for a series of electron beam welds in 316L austenitic stainless steel with a variety of geometries. The predicted residual stresses were compared with contour method and neutron diffraction residual stress measurements.


Author(s):  
T. Zhang ◽  
G. Wilkowski ◽  
D. Rudland ◽  
F. Brust ◽  
H. S. Mehta ◽  
...  

The weld overlay process has been developed and applied to repair of nuclear reactor pipe girth welds for many years in BWR plants. The objectives of such repairs were to induce compressive axial residual stresses on the pipe inside surface, as well as increase the pipe thickness with a weld material that is not susceptible to stress-corrosion cracking. Hence, understanding the residual stress distribution is important to evaluate the reliability of pipe joints with weld overlay repairs. In this paper, a six-inch diameter Schedule 120 stainless steel pipe with an overlay thickness of 7.87 mm (0.31 inch) was picked as a validation case. Weld sequencing effects were thoroughly studied. The residual stresses were calculated by using thermal elasto-plastic finite-element analysis (FEA). After comparing results using different weld sequences, it was found that the calculated weld residual stresses on ID surface were very sensitive to weld sequencing in FE analyses as well as internal cooling rate. The influence of the weld sequencing was relatively secondary to the pipe distortion. An optimum (producing compressive residual stress on the ID surface) weld sequencing was obtained and applied to a 711.2 mm (28-inch) diameter pipe-to-elbow girth weld with an overlay thickness of 24.9 mm (0.98 inch) and a pipe thickness of 29.5 mm (1.16 inch).


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dezheng Liu ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Haisheng Liu ◽  
Zhongren Wang ◽  
Yu Wang

Weld solidification crack prevention in the laser penetration welding process is essential for the strength of the welded component. The formation of solidification cracks can ultimately be attributed to welding residual stresses, and preventive measures should be taken during welding. In this study, the effects of residual stresses on the laser penetration welding quality of ultrafine-grained steels were investigated. A heat source model was established through the analysis of the metallography of the cross section of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of ultrafine-grained AN420s-grade steel, and the chemical composition of the weld bead was obtained using an FLS980-stm Edinburgh fluorescence spectrometer. Furthermore, the constitutive coupling relation between the temperature and material flow stress was established based on the Gibbs function, and the welding residual stress was obtained by setting trace points in a finite element analysis (FEA) model based on experimental data of the weld bead cross section under different welding conditions. The results show that weld solidification cracks will form when the residual stresses exceed the material flow stresses in the weld bead, and the residual stresses can be decreased through a reasonable increase of the welding speed. The results indicate that the proposed criterion has high accuracy and can be used to predict the formation of weld solidification cracks in the laser penetration welding process.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Bhardwaj ◽  
R. M. Chandima Ratnayake

Abstract Residual stress estimation in structural integrity procedures plays an important role during the fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment of girth welds. Various FFS codes and standards, such as API 579 and BS 7910, recommend predetermined residual stress profiles based on finite element modeling (FEM) coupled with experimental results. Nonlinearity associated with non-uniform temperature gradients’ distribution during welding can develop residual stress up to the yield strength of the material, in weld shrinkage and plastic zones. Plastic zone size, shape, and locations are critically important in reducing or controlling final distortions, decreasing the residual stress according to length scale, and defining the optimum sequence of the welding process. However, in practice, estimation of finally developed residual stresses is used in structural integrity procedures for determining the FFS of welded joints. Various FEM models employed in its assessment require large computational time in solving the complex thermo-mechanical phenomenon involved in the welding process. Shrinkage strain models have been found to be fast and effective in determining final residual stresses, once the size, location and shape of the plastic zone can be predetermined. This manuscript demonstrates a comparison between the shrinkage strain method and the moving heat source method, based on transient temperature development as a function of time. The results (or findings) reveal a high compromise between FEM thermo mechanical model and shrinkage strain method in determining final residual stresses with later consuming less computational time. The findings provide significantly important feedback to welded joints’ structural integrity assurance practitioners.


Author(s):  
Kazuo Ogawa ◽  
Yukihiko Okuda ◽  
Toshiyuki Saito ◽  
Takahiro Hayashi ◽  
Rie Sumiya

Recently, several cracks caused by stress corrosion cracking (SCC) have been found on welds of shroud supports in Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) plants. The major cause of SCC in a weld joint is considered due to welding residual stress generated in the fabrication processes of the components. For continuous safety operations, it is necessary to estimate the structural integrity of such shroud supports with cracks based on the distribution of residual stresses induced by welding. In order to know and to validate the numerical method of residual stresses induced by welding of large scale and complex shaped components, a BWR shroud support mock-up with a hemispherical base of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was fabricated by Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES) as a national project. The mock-up has a 32° section of actual BWR shroud supports with approximately the same configurations, materials and welding conditions of an actual component. During welding in the fabrication process of the mock-up, temperature was measured and after completion of the mock-up fabrication, surface residual stress distributions for each weld were also measured by the sectioning method. In addition, through-thickness residual stress distributions were investigated. Residual stress for each weld was calculated by using axisymmetric models considering temperature dependent elastic-plastic material properties. Though the actual structure of shroud supports is essentially complex, we simplified axisymmetric models in the center of the cross section. The analysis results show a similar profile and good agreement with the measured results on the surface of all the welds and through the welds at the upper and lower joints of the shroud support leg.


Author(s):  
T. Sriskandarajah ◽  
Graeme Roberts ◽  
Daowu Zhou

A characteristic of pipeline installation by the reeling technique is the generation of high plastic strain around the majority of the pipeline’s circumference as it is spooled onto a drum, under displacement controlled conditions. It is well-known that the application of sufficiently high amounts of mechanical or thermal energy will “anneal” (relax) weld residual stresses and, therefore, under the gross plasticity experienced during reeling it should be expected that initial girth weld residual stresses will be entirely relaxed during the first reel cycle. The residual stress state needs to be taken into account in Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) procedures of girth welds when predicting allowable defect dimensions. ECA codes such as DNV-OS-F101 and BS7910 assume the welding residual stress to be equal to the yield strength of the parent material and relaxation of welding residual stress under overload is allowed. However, the treatment specified in DNV is established from load-controlled scenarios and may result in un-realistic allowable defect dimensions in displacement-controlled situations such as reeling. Welding residual stress in reeling ECA is concerning to the subsea pipeline industry. By performing reeling simulations with 3D finite element analyses (FEA), this paper examines the welding residual stress before and after reeling and assesses the extent of residual stress relaxation. It was found that reeling axial strain causes significant relaxation of the weld residual stress at the pipe intrados and extrados. At the saddle points there is a slight disruption to the residual stress field. The full weld residual stress is relaxed from a value equal to the material yield stress, and is replaced by a plastic deformation induced stress of much lower magnitude, typically in the order of 100 MPa or less. The plastic deformation stress is of equal magnitude whether or not the pipe section contains initial weld residual stress and, therefore, it is concluded that weld residual stress can be ignored following the first reel cycle.


Author(s):  
Xiaobo Ren ◽  
Odd M. Akselsen ◽  
Sigmund K. Ås ◽  
Bård Nyhus

Hyperbaric welding residual stress is one of the main concerns for deep water operation. This study presents the numerical investigation of residual stresses in hyperbaric welding by using WeldsimS code. The pressure range investigated in this study is from 3 to 35 bar, which corresponds to 30 to 350 msw (Meters of Sea Water). Experiments results indicate that the welding procedure might be significantly influenced within the pressure range studied. A 2D axisymmetric model has been considered in this study to simulate circumferential welding of a pipe. Phase transformations and transformation plasticity during the welding procedure have been taken into account. The main aim of the study is to predict the hyperbaric welding residual stresses. The temperature evolution and the micro-structure were also studied. Results show that residual stresses induced by hyperbaric welding are significant within the pressure range investigated, which should be assessed for the sake of structural integrity.


Author(s):  
Akira Maekawa ◽  
Shigeru Takahashi ◽  
Hisashi Serizawa ◽  
Hidekazu Murakawa

An efficient and reliable method for welding residual stress analysis is reported in this paper. The analysis method to calculate the residual stress using the iterative substructure method was developed and compared with a conventional one using a commercial finite element analysis code; comparisons were made for the analysis accuracy and the computational speed of the residual stress in a welded pipe joint. The residual stress distributions obtained by the both methods agreed well with each other. Moreover, it was clarified that the developed method could calculate the residual stress in a shorter computing time and could calculate the residual stress distribution much faster with nearly the same accuracy as the conventional method when the size of the welding structure was large.


2013 ◽  
Vol 768-769 ◽  
pp. 605-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Farajian ◽  
Thomas Nitschke-Pagel ◽  
Klaus Dilger

In spite of an increased awareness of welding residual stress threat to structural integrity, the extent of its influence on fatigue especially under multiaxial loading is still unclear and is a matter of debate. One important reason for this lack of clarities is that the determination of the initial welding residual stress field in welded structures even at the fatigue crack initiation sites is difficult and requires complementary instruments. Since the fatigue crack initiation in sound welds almost always occurs on the surface, the determination of surface residual stresses could increase the awareness of the extent of their threat to the structural safety. In this paper the development of residual stresses in different TIG-welded tubular specimens out of S355J2H and S690QL steel is studied and compared. The mechanisms of the development of residual stresses based on heat input and cooling rate are discussed. The welding parameters and thus heat inputs are varied and the mechanisms leading to different residual stress states are investigated. X-ray method was used for residual stress state characterization.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document