Weld distortion prediction of the ITER Vacuum Vessel using Finite Element simulations

The as-welded surfaces of the ITER Vacuum Vessel sectors need to be within a very tight tolerance, without a full-scale prototype. In order to predict welding distortion and optimize the manufacturing sequence, the industrial contract includes extensive computational simulations of the weld processes which can rapidly assess different sequences. The accurate shape prediction, after each manufacturing phase, enables actual distortions to be compared with the welding simulations to generate modified procedures and pre-compensate distortions. While previous mock-ups used heavy welded-on jigs to try to restrain the distortions, this method allows the use of lightweight jigs and yields important cost and rework savings. In order to enable the optimization of different alternative welding sequences, the simulation methodology is improved using condensed computation techniques with ANSYS in order to reduce computational resources. For each welding process, the models are calibrated with the results of coupons and mock-ups. The calibration is used to construct representative models of each segment and sector. This paper describes the application to the construction of the Vacuum Vessel sector of the enhanced simulation methodology with condensed Finite Element computation techniques and results of the calibration on several test pieces for different types of welds.