Effects of pass arrangement on angular distortion, residual stresses and lamellar tearing tendency in thick-plate T-joints of low alloy steel

Three thick-plate T-joints with different pass arrangements were fabricated using low alloy steel. Experiments were conducted to measure the angular distortion and residual stress distribution of these T-joints. Based on ABAQUS code, a sequentially coupled thermal-mechanical finite element method considering moving heat source was developed to model the welding deformation and residual stress distribution of the multi-pass T-joints. The evolution of the angular distortion and stress distribution during welding process of the three T-joints was analyzed by means of numerical simulation. The peak stress distribution in the thickness direction of the flange during the entire welding process was examined based on the simulation results, and the lamellar tearing tendency of the T-joints was investigated. Among the three pass arrangements, the pass arrangement that welding passes are attached to the flange with surfacing welding produces the minimum angular distortion and has the lowest tendency of lamellar tearing for thick-plate T-joints.