Influence of welding sequence on welding distortions in pipes

This paper presents a three-dimensional thermo-mechanical analysis to investigate the effect of welding sequence on welding deformations in pipe-pipe joints of AISI stainless-steel type. Single-pass TIG welding with V-joint geometry in pipes having a diameter of 274mm and a thickness of 6.2mm is studied here. Nine different welding sequences are analysed. The finite element results are compared with experimental data. It has been shown that selecting a suitable welding sequence can substantially decrease the amount of welding distortions in this pipe geometry. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.