Numerical simulation to study the effect of repair width on residual stresses of a stainless steel clad plate

Clad plates are widely used in the construction of corrosion resistant equipment. During the repair of clad plates, residual stresses are generated and influence the structure integrity. This paper uses the finite element method (FEM) to predict the residual stresses in a repair weld of a stainless steel clad plate. The effect of repair width on residual stresses has also been investigated by numerical simulation. Due to the material mismatching between clad metal and base metal, a discontinuous stress distribution has been generated across the interface between clad and base metals. The peak residual stress occurs in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the base metal, because the yield strength of the base metal is larger than that of the clad metal. With an increase in repair width, the residual stresses are decreased. When the repair width is increased to 24 mm, the residual stresses in the weld have been decreased greatly and the peak residual stresses have been reduced to less than the yield strength. Therefore, the recommended repair width should not be less than 24 mm, which provides a reference for optimizing repair welding technology for this stainless steel clad pate. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.