Generation of welding residual stress when a pipe penetrates a thick plate

Summary

This paper describes a study of the welding residual stress at the intersection of a small‐diameter pipe penetrating a thick plate. The pipe is welded to the plate, and TIG cladding is deposited on its inside surface to protect it from stress corrosion cracking due to prolonged operation in a nuclear power plant.

The residual stress is calculated by a heat conduction analysis and tensile elastic‐plastic analysis and also measured by strain gauges. The welding residual stress is shown to have no corrosive effect on the pipe inside surface, and the stress is sufficiently compressive to protect the pipe from stress corrosion cracking on its outside surface.

The mechanism of residual stress generation during welding is also investigated.