Experimental and finite element analyses for residual stress prediction of welded SAE-1018 steel joints

Welded joints are a critical part of any structural component, and the stresses induced can cause a major problem in structural integrity. The presented work discusses the development of a numerical model using finite element techniques to determine the residual stress of an SAE-1018 welded joint. A 3D thermo-mechanical coupled model for shielded metal arc welding is developed to predict the tensile and compressive residual stresses. Further, a uniaxial tension test is also modelled to predict the weld joint strength, and the numerical results are validated with the experiments. ASTM E8 standards are used to perform the tensile test.