Investigation of sequence effect on welding residual stresses and distortion in a aluminum shell opening

In this research, opening welding on an aluminum shell and investigating the effect of welding sequence on residual stresses and distortion after welding by finite element simulation have been investigated. Then, the results are compared in ABAQUS and SYSWELD.Using experimental data, simulation and experimental results are compared. The temperature distribution is not uniform in different area of the welding zone, the most important factor in this incident is the non-uniform welding geometry. Thermal retransmission and the difference between thermal pick in different situations increases with increase of welding steps, which will affect the development of residual stresses as well as distortion after welding. The peak of the residual stresses is reduced and more uniform distribution occurs as the number of welding sequences increases.. The results show that the higher the distortion in the weld region (the elongation), the greater the amount of elongation. Also, the amount of elongation will be greater, with the higher the distortion in the weld area.