• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1115-1130
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• 2012

In nuclear power plants, the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) upper head control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) penetration nozzles are fabricated using J-groove weld geometry. Recently, the incidences of cracking in Alloy 600 CRDM nozzles and their associated welds have increased significantly. The cracking mechanism has been attributed to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC), and it has been shown to be driven by welding residual stresses and operational stresses in the weld region. The weld-induced residual stress is the main factor contributing to crack growth. Therefore, an exact estimation of the residual stress is important for ensuring reliable operation. This study presents the residual stress computation performed for an RPV CRDM penetration nozzle in Korea. Based on two and three dimensional finite element analyses, the effect of welding variables on the residual stress variation is estimated for sensitivity analysis.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.34-41
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• 2010

This work is concerned with the analysis of stress corrosion cracking(SCC) behavior of Alloy 600 nozzle penetration mock-up according to a residual stress induced by a dissimilar metal welding(DMW) in a nuclear reactor pressure vessel. The effects of the dimension and materials of the nozzle penetration on the deformation and the residual stress induced by DMW were investigated using a finite element analysis(FEA). The inner diameter(ID) change of the nozzle by DMW and its dependance on the design variables, calculated by FEA, were well consistent with those measured from the mock-up. Accelerated SCC tests were performed for three mock-ups with different wall thicknesses in a highly acidic solution to investigate mainly the effect of the residual stress on the SCC behavior of Alloy 600 nozzle. From a destructive examination of the mock-up after the tests, the SCC behavior of the nozzle was fairly related with the residual stress induced by DMW : axial cracks were found in the ID surface of the nozzle within the J-weld region where the highest tensile hoop stress was predicted by FEA, while circumferential cracks were observed beyond both J-weld root and toe where the highest tensile axial stress was expected.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.473-478
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• 2011

Welding process generates distortion and residual stress in the weldment due to rapid heating and cooling. Welding distortion and residual stress in the welded structure result in many troubles such as dimensional inaccuracies in assembling and safety problem during service. The accurate prediction of welding residual stress is thus very important to improve the quality of weldment and find the way to reduce itself. This paper presents the simulation of welding-induced residual stress analysis to examine the cause of cracking in the SUS-overlay welding specimen at FPSO Moon Pool structure.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.70-75
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• 2011

Welding process generates distortion and residual stress in the weldment due to rapid heating and cooling. Welding distortion and residual stress in the welded structure result in many troubles such as dimensional inaccuracies in assembling and safety problem during service. The accurate prediction of welding residual stress is thus very important to improve the quality of weldment and find the way to reduce itself. This paper presents the simulation of welding-induced residual stress analysis to examine the cause of cracking in the SUS-overlay welding specimen at FPSO Moon Pool structure.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1033-1039
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• 2002

Partial penetration welding joint refers to the groove weld that applies to the one side welding which does not use steel backing and to both side welding without back gouging, that is, the partial penetration welding joint leaves an unwelded portion at the root of the welding area. In this study, we analyzed the residual stress and fracture on the thick metal plates that introduced the partial penetration welding method. According to the above-mentioned welding method, we could draw a conclusion that longitudinal stress and traverse stress occurred around the welding area are so minimal and do not affect any influence. We also performed the fracture behavior evaluation on the partial penetration multi pass welding with 25.4 mm thick plate by using the J-integral, which finally led us the conclusion that the partial penetration multi-pass welding method is more applicable and effective in handling the root face with less than 6.35 mm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1813-1819
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• 2001

Partial penetration welding Joint defines that groove welds without steel backing, welded from on side, and groove weeds welded from both sides but without back gouging, that is. it has an unwelded portion at the root of the weld. In this study we analysed fur residual stress and displacement distribution on partial penetration welding condition of thick plate metal. For 25.4mm thick plate, theoretical residual stress and displacement analysis by finite element method using ABAQUS was carried out and compared with the experimental result using hole-drilling method. In results of the condition of partial penetration, it appeared that longitudinal stress at welding area was a little difference and transverse stress did not have any effect by partial penetration multi-pass welding. From a point of welding distortion in partial penetration multi-pass welding, it seemed to be better to control root face smaller than 6.35mm.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.31-39
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• 1996

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of welding residual stresses on the fatigue crack growth behavior of cracks located transverse to the weld bead. For this purpose, G. T. A (Gas Tungsten Arc) welding was performed on hte Al alloy 1100-O plate and the same initial crack is made on HAZ(Heat Affected Zone), weld metal and base meta respectively. Specimens were used CT(Compact Tension) specimens. Initial welding residual stresses were measured by using strai gage sectioning method. All specimens were tested under constant amplitude load with stress ratio R=0.1, It is possible to predict fatigue crack growth behaviors and the fatigue life, using numerical analysis together with distribution of initial residual stress and the values of C and m obtained from $da/dN-{\Delta}K$

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.49-60
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• 2002

Welding is essential in ship production since welding is very popular method for joining two or more metals. However, welding causes residual stress and distortion and these give a bad influence to the structure strength and assembly of ship blocks. Therefore, prediction and treatment of residual stress and distortion is a key to accuracy control in shipyard. In this paper, a computational procedure, based on thermal-elastic-plastic 3-dimensional FEA, has been suggested to simulate butt and fillet welding process. In the simulation process, temperature distribution at each time step is obtained by heat transfer analysis and then thermal deformation analysis is done with obtained temperature distributions to find the residual stress and distortion. In heat transfer analysis, enthalpy method is used to realize phase change at melting temperature. Also element birth and death method is used to simulate adding of weld metal in both heat transfer analysis and thermal elastic plastic analysis. The proposed procedure is verified by related researches and the results show good agreement with those of related researches.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.42-46
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• 2016

Hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) is one of the most complicated problem in welding. Huge amount of studies have been done for decades. Based on them, various standards have been established to avoid HAC. But it is still a chronic problem in industrial field. It is well known that the main causes of the hydrogen crack are residual stress, crack susceptible micro structures and a certain critical level of hydrogen concentration. Even though the exact generating mechanism is unclear till today, it has been reported that the hydrogen level in the weld metal should be managed less than a certain amount to prevent it. Matsuda studied that the residual hydrogen level in the weld metal can be varied even if the initial hydrogen content is same. It is also insisted in this report that the residual hydrogen concentration is in stronger correlation with hydrogen crack than the initial hydrogen content. But, in practical point of view, the residual hydrogen is still hard to consider because measuring hydrogen level is time and cost consuming process. In this regard, numerical analysis is the only solution for considering the residual hydrogen content. Meanwhile, Takahashi showed the possibility of predicting the residual hydrogen by a rigorous FE analysis. But, few commercial software suitable for solving the weld metal hydrogen has been reported yet. In this study, two dimensional thermal - hydrogen coupled analysis was developed by using the commercial FE software MARC. Since the governing equation of the hydrogen diffusion is similar to the heat transfer, it is shown that the heat transfer FE analysis in association with hydrogen diffusion property can be used for hydrogen diffusion analysis. A series of simulation was performed to verify the accuracy of the model. For BOP (Bead-On-Plate) and the multi-pass butt welding simulations, remaining hydrogen contents in the weld metal is well matched with measurements which are referred from Kim and Masamitsu.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.34-47
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• 1993

Finite element models were developed for thermal and residual stress analysis for the specific welding problems. They were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the various welding heat input models, such as ramp heat input function and lumped pass models. Through the parametric studies, thermal-mechanical modeling sensitivity to the ramp function and lumping techniques was determined by comparing the predicted results with experimental data. The kinetics for residual stress formation during welding can be developed by iteration of various proposed mechanisms in the parametric study. A ramp heat input function was developed to gradually apply the heat flux with variable amplitude to the model. This model was used to avoid numerical convergence problems due to an instantaneous increase in temperature near the fusion zone. Additionally, it enables the model to include the effect of a moving arc in a two-dimensional plane. The ramp function takes into account the variation in the out of plane energy flow in a 2-D model as the arc approaches, travels across, and departs from each plane under investigation. A lumped pass model was developed to reduce the computation cost in the analysis of multipass welds. Several weld passes were assumed as one lumped pass in this model. Recommendations were provided about ramp lumping techniques and the optimum number of weld passes that can be combined into a single thermal input.