Prediction of welding distortion in a curved plate structure by means of elastic finite element method

An elastic finite element method (FEM) for predicting welding distortions of large welded structures is developed. In the proposed elastic FEM, the inherent deformation is used to model the local deformation induced by welding, and the interface element is introduced to simulate the joining process and the correction of the gap between the welded parts. In this study, our emphasis is focused on examining the influence of initial gap on the final welding distortion. First, the usefulness of the proposed method is verified by experiment with simple welded structures. Secondly, the welding distortion of an asymmetric curved plate structure without initial gap is predicted using this elastic FEM. Finally, the influence of the initial gaps on the final welding distortion in the asymmetric curved plate structure is investigated. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.