Methodology for Thermomechanical Simulation and Validation of Mechanical Weld‐Seam Properties

Abstract A simulation and validation of the mechanical properties in submerged‐arc‐weld seams is presented, which combines numerical simulation of the thermal cycle in the weld using the SimWeld software with an annealing and testing procedure. The weld‐seam geometry and thermal profile near the weld seam can be computed based on the simulation of an equivalent heat source describing the energy input and distribution in the weld seam. Defined temperature–time cycles are imposed on tensile specimens allowing for annealing experiments with fast cooling rates. The direct evaluation of welded structures and the simple generation of input data for mechanical simulations in FE software packages are possible.