INVESTIGATION OF RESIDUAL STRESSES AND DISTORTION IN WELDED PIPE-FLANGE JOINT OF DIFFERENT CLASSES

Pipe and flange joints are commonly used in petrochemical, nuclear and process industries. Commonly, welding is used to make these joints which produce residual stresses and distortions. These stresses have detrimental effects on the structural integrity and service performance of the welded pipe joints. The objective of this study is to investigate the residual stresses and distortions during Gas Metal Arc Welding of pipe of schedule 40, nominal diameter 200 mm with different ANSI flanges of class numbers 150, 300, 600, 900, 1500, and 2500. Welding parameters including: voltage, current and heat as inputs were selected based on the literature available. The behaviour of the flanges of different classes is also discussed. In addition, the finite element methodology presented, in this paper, can be helpful for developing welding procedures for a range of pipe flange welded joint sizes in order to control the residual stresses and deformations. This will lead to optimised performance during bolt up and operating conditions.