Introducing/reproducing of welding distortion and residual stress in analysis for elastic-plastic behaviors of steel plates under compressive loads

A series of analyses was carried out to elucidate treatment of welding imperfection for simulating elastic-plastic behaviors of steel plates under compressive loads. A thermal elastic-plastic analysis based on infinitesimal deformation theory was carried out on a single-pass butt-welding of thin steel plates to predict welding distortion and welding residual stress. The obtained welding distortion and welding residual stress were introduced into an elastic-plastic large deformation analysis as initial imperfection. However, it was elucidated that welding distortion and welding residual stress could not be reproduced precisely due to unbalanced force caused by the difference between both analysis theories. Therefore, it should be confirmed whether the introduced welding distortion and welding residual stress were reproduced with high accuracy. Consequently, if welding distortion and welding residual stress cannot be reproduced, the treatment such as the convergence calculation method applied in this study should be done for precise elucidation of the elastic-plastic behavior of plates under compressive loads.