Effect of residual stress modification technique on CTOD test results in heavy thick welded joints

In order to investigate the effects of residual stress modification on the results of crack-tip opening displacement (CTOD) tests in heavy thick welded joints, experiments using a submerged-arc welding (SAW) joint of an EH47 steel plate with the thickness of 70 mm and residual stress analyses by the finite element method (FEM) were performed. It was confirmed that appropriate reversed bend conditions improved fatigue precrack front shapes, and the low ratio of the fatigue precrack length to the size of the compressive plastic zone induced by reversed bending contributed to the fatigue crack shape improvement. Although the local compression with a large diameter platen was effective in improving the fatigue precrack front shape, small diameter platens were not effective even if they applied to wide ranges of specimens. In addition, specimens treated by the reversed bending showed higher critical CTOD values than those treated by local compression. According to the FEM analysis, the reversed bending introduced tensile residual stress at the mechanical notch root, although the initial residual stress distribution of the welded joint still remained a little away from the notch root. On the other hand, the initial residual stress was almost removed by the local compression with a large diameter platen. It was presumed that the initial residual stress distribution affected fatigue precrack front shapes and the critical CTOD in welded joints. The reversed bending is very useful if appropriate conditions can be used.