Welding mechanics for advanced component safety assessment

Numerical methods are nowadays a useful tool for the calculation of distortion and residual stresses as a result from the welding process. Modern finite element codes not only allow for calculation of deformations and stresses due to the welding process but also take into account the change of microstructure due to different heating and cooling rates. As an extension to the pure welding simulation, the field of welding mechanics combines the mechanics and the material behaviour from the welding process with the assessment of service behaviour of welded components. In the paper, new results of experimental and numerical work in the field of welding mechanics are described. Through examples from automotive, nuclear and pipe-line applications it is demonstrated that an equilibrated treatment and a close interaction of "process", "properties" and "defects"are necessary to come up with an advanced fitness-forservice assessment of welded components.