Jiangchao Wang

Reduction of Welding Distortion for an Improved Assembly Process for Hatch Coaming Production

The alignment between the hatch coaming top surface and hatch cover is essential to maintain hatch cover water tightness and smooth mechanical operation. An improved assembly process for hatch coaming production is proposed, in which the complete hatch coaming is assembled on the shop floor and then lifted as one part, fitted, and welded to the deck. When this complete hatch coaming is assembled to a ship deck, an irregularly distributed gap is usually found between the lower side of the hatch coaming and the deck. Fitting and welding distortion, in particular longitudinal and transverse shrinkage, influence the dimensional accuracy and consequently the production schedule. In this research, welding pass sequence of a fillet welded joint is improved using thermal elastic plastic analysis and welding distortion of the hatch coaming top surface is predicted using elastic analysis. First, three specimens with different gaps that model the welded joint between the hatch coaming and deck were welded and the changed distance between the measuring equipment and the flange was measured. A three-dimensional thermal elastic plastic finite element analysis was carried out for the same specimens and the computed welding distortion was shown to have good agreement with the measurements. As a result of the possible significant influence of welding pass sequence on transverse shrinkage of a fillet welded joint, the influence of welding pass sequence is studied using the computational approach and improved welding pass sequences are proposed to reduce transverse shrinkage. Finally, elastic analysis using inherent longitudinal and transverse shrinkage deformations evaluated by thermal elastic plastic analysis is used to predict welding distortion of the hatch coaming. In this elastic analysis, the influence of different gaps at different locations between the hatch coaming and the deck is considered.

FE Analysis of Buckling Behavior Caused by Welding in Thin Plates of High Tensile Strength Steel

Abstract The target of this study was to investigate buckling behavior during the entire welding process which consists of the heating and the cooling processes. For thin plate structures made of high tensile strength steel, not only residual buckling during or after cooling down but also transient buckling during heating may occur. The thermal elastic plastic FE analysis to investigate welding-induced buckling during the entire welding process is presented. Because of the high yield stress of high tensile strength steel, larger longitudinal compressive thermal stress is produced near the welding line compared with that in the case of carbon steel. Therefore, the plate may buckle due to thermal expansion, before the material nears yielding. During cooling down, the longitudinal compressive thermal stress close to the welding line disappears, and longitudinal tensile residual stress is produced due to contraction. Meanwhile, longitudinal compressive residual stress occurs far from the welding line to balance the tensile stress close to the welding line. This distribution of longitudinal residual stress would change the deformed dish shape of transient buckling into a saddle buckling type when the stress exceeds the critical buckling condition.