Proceedings of the ASME 2018

Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference

PVP2018
July 15-20, 2018, Prague, Czech Republic

PVP2018-84693

INFLUENCE OF WELD RESIDUAL STRESSES ON DUCTILE CRACK BEHAVIOR IN

AISI TYPE 316LN STAINLESS STEEL WELD JOINT

Sai Deepak Namburu Lakshmana Rao Chebolu

Research Scholar, IIT Madras Professor, IIT Madras
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

A. Krishnan Subramanian Raghu Prakash Sasikala Gomathy

Scientific Officer “E”, IGCAR Professor, IIT Madras HOD, MD&TD, IGCAR
Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT This paper studies the influence of welding residual stresses on

Welding residual stress is one of the main concerns in the the crack present in the SS 316LN weld joint. Two-dimensional
process of fabrication and operation because of failures in plain strain models have been modelled to simulate the crack
welded steel joints due to its potential effect on structural present in CT specimen. Welding residual stresses were mapped
integrity. This work focuses on the effect of welding residual on to FE-model using residual mapping technique [3]. The
stress on the ductile crack growth behavior in AISI 316LN GTN model is used to estimate the crack behavior due to
welded CT specimens. Two-dimensional plane strain model has loading and develop load bearing behavior. The effect of
been used to simulate the CT specimen. X-ray diffraction residual stresses on ductile crack growth behavior for cases with
technique is used to obtain residual stress value at the SS different crack sizes and porosity values have been studied.
316LN weld joint. The GTN model has been employed to
estimate the ductile crack growth behavior in the CT-specimen. NOMENCLATURE
Results show that residual stresses influence the ductile crack
growth behavior. The effect of residual stress has also been LLD Load line displacement
investigated for cases with different initial void volume fraction, COD Crack opening displacement
crack lengths. q1, q2, q3 Gurson’s parameters
f void volume fraction
INTRODUCTION f0 Initial void volume fraction
The influence of weld residual stresses on the behavior of fN f at void nucleation
the weld joint characterizes the failure of weld structures and fc f at critical void volume fraction
welded components. The ductile crack growth behavior seen in fF f at final void volume fraction
many of the steel structure play a vital role in fracture analysis. fu* Ultimate void volume fraction
The ductile fracture process is effected by the presence of high εN Mean nucleating strain
stress triaxiality and plastic strains [1] and influences the near SN Standard deviation
tip stress/strain field. This causes the ductile material to undergo [σ]input Pre-stress input value
transition and fail in cleavage mode. The presence of residual [σ]measured Measured pre-stress value
stresses can influence the stress fields due to loading at the [σ]output Resultant stress after equilibrium step
crack tip and cause additional constraint [2]. Hence it is σeq Equivalent von Mises stress value
interesting to investigate the influence of residual stresses on σm Mean stress value
crack growth behavior.  Flow stress in the material

1 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use

 METHODOLOGY 316LN SS ensures freedom from sensitization during welding
and inter-granular corrosion of the components and provides
Material Properties and Geometry of the Weld Joint required material properties like high thermal conductivity, low
solidification temperature, elastic and plastic properties. Shield
The material studied is the austenite stainless steel metal arc welding is performed to fabricate 316LN SS weld
grade 316LN (316LN SS), used for the primary and secondary joints. In this process, SS 316L electrode sticks are used.
sodium systems of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). Tensile specimens used for material properties testing are
extracted perpendicular to the weld seam. In this study,
weldment material properties are assumed to be isotropic. The
true stress vs. strain curves of base metal (BM) and weld metal
(WM) of 316LN SS are shown in the Fig. 1(a). The compact
tension (CT) specimen is used to study the fracture behaviour of
316LN SS material. The main dimensions of the CT specimen
are shown in the Fig. 1(b), where the width W is 50mm,
thickness B is 14mm, weld width is 14mm. Size of the heat
affected zone (HAZ) is found to be less than 3μm. Since the
mechanical properties of HAZ and weld are assumed to be
similar [4] and HAZ is considered to be a part of the weld zone.

GTN Damage Model and Parameters Estimations

Ductile fracture in metals is a result of void nucleation,

growth and coalescence of the existing and newly born
microvoids due to loading. Unlike traditional plasticity models,
Gurson developed a microscopic yield criterion [5] for
homogenous, rigid plastic material behaviour which considers
void volume fraction f as an internal variable and captures the
degradation of the load-bearing capacity of the material in the
presence of porosity. Modified Gurson model (also called GTN
model) was developed by Tvergaard and Needleman [6] to
model the interaction between voids and coalescence of voids
during the final stage of material failure. The modified GTN
model consists of additional parameters (q1, q2, q3) and
modified damage variable f*. The yield function of the GTN
model is shown below:

 eq2 3 
 ( , f ,  )   2q1 f *.cosh( q2 m )  1  (q1 f * ) 2
 2 
0 (1)

with f  f for f  f c
*

fu*  f c
 fc   f  fc  for f  f c (2)
f f  fc
where σeq is the von Mises equivalent stress, σm is the
hydrostatic stress and  is the flow strength of the matrix
material which is a function of the accumulated plastic strain.
Figure 1. (a) True stress and strain curves: base metal and weld The constitutive model parameters q1, q2, and q3=q12 are
metal, (b) CT specimen geometry and initial crack location. introduced to consider the interaction between adjacent voids.
These phenomenological based parameters depend on the
elastic-plastic properties of the material like strain hardening

2 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use

 exponent and the yield stress. Void volume fraction (f) is the Residual Mapping Technique
ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of the matrix
material. f0 is the initial void volume fraction of the material, The measured residual stress value for weld 316LN SS was
and void nucleation happens when f reaches fN. Both f0 and fN taken from X-ray diffraction report performed on dissimilar
parameters are determined based on the metallographic and metal weld joint of 316LN - Inconel 182 - P91. Some important
fracture toughness analysis. Other void nucleation parameters test parameters used for residual stress measurement by the
are a mean strain at nucleation εn and corresponding standard XRD technique for 316LN SS are X-ray radiation used
deviation SN. GTN model considers f* over f to take into Chromium Kβ, operating voltage is 30 kV, Current is 7mA,
account the gradual loss of stress carrying capacity of the Wavelength is 2.0848. The value of residual stress is 153MPa
material due to void coalescence. When f reaches critical void measured at 7mm away from the interface of 316LN SS and
volume fraction fc, void coalescence happens in the materials, Inconel 182.
and material point loses its load bearing capacity fully, and
when f reaches final volume fraction fF or when f* = fu* fracture The residual stress was introduced into the FE-model of the CT-
occurs, where fu* = 1/q1. Tvergaard and Needleman [6] can be specimen at weld zone as pre-stress, but without a crack. Since
referred to explore the equations of the GTN model further. The the introduction of pre-stress causes the FE-model to be in the
GTN model is available in Abaqus explicit FEA and is widely non-equilibrium state, a self-equilibrated step was performed to
used to simulate and predict the ductile fracture process [7,8]. distribute and relax the defined pre-stresses to the adjacent
elements of the FE-model before applying loads or
Among nine parameters of the GTN model parameters, for displacements. This step results in a difference between the
medium strength steel, GTN constitutive model parameters initial pre-stress and equilibrium stresses developed. To
were used by Faleskog et al. [9] to be q1 = 1.5, q2 = 1 and q3 = minimize the difference, an iterative process is chosen to
2.25 and void nucleation parameters εn = 0.3 and SN =0.1 which modify the input values of the pre-stress to emulate a desired
were proposed by Kami et al. [10] have been used in most residual stress. The following equation defines the iterative
investigations and these values were used in this study. The process:
parameters f0, fN, fc and fF are usually evaluated by fitting
numerical simulations and experimental results. The GTN (3)
model parameters for 316LN SS (base metal) has been obtained
from literature [7]. For welded 316LN SS, a numerous set of f0, where [σ]input is pre-stress input into the FE-model, [σ]measured is
fN, and fF are tried in the simulation process to fit the the measured residual stress from experiments. [σ]output is the
experimental results of tensile specimen and CT specimen. resultant stress obtained after equilibrium step. The superscript
Tensile specimen and CT specimen were modelled using i, in the Equation (2) represents the ith step in the iterative
experiment specimen dimensions to perform FEA and models process and α is a constant and taken as 1. This iteration process
were studied on mesh convergence. To start with, initial set of starts with i=0 and [σ]input = [σ]measured. [σ]input for i=1 is
GTN damage parameters were set to base metal 316LN SS. The calculated from the Equation (2) and using the value of [σ]output
influence of each parameter on the material behavior of the obtained from previous analysis. The iterative process runs till
specimen was studied. The influence of f0 was high on the the values of [σ]output = [σ]measured are approximately equal.
response of the material to GTN damage model. In the process
of finding GTN parameters for weld metal, it is found that these The mapped stresses converge to pre-residual stress values after
parameters are not independent of each other. The values of fF, 3 iterative steps. The output stresses in the weld direction agree
fc, and fN were not matching the experimental results when to within 4.5%. The maximum difference in mapped and
compared independently. Hence various sets of fc and fN along measured pre-stress at the weld region was ~10 MPa. The
with fF were studied to match the GTN parameters for weld converged residual stress distribution is mapped to the cracked
metal with experimental tensile and CT specimens. The finally FE-model of 316LN SS. Introducing the crack, makes the
determined GTN damage model parameters for base metal and stresses to redistribute again and eliminates the higher stresses
weld metal are listed in the Table 1 and these parameters were produced near the notch of CT-specimen. Cracked FE-model
used in the numerical simulation of CT specimens in section 3. with mapped residual stresses help us to understand the
influence of residual stresses on the crack initiation and
Table 1: GTN parameters of 316LN SS base metal and weld metal propagation behavior. Since the values of distributed residual
Materials q1 q2 f0 n SN fN fc fF stresses in the vicinity of the crack is less than yield stress of the
Base metal 1.5 1 1x10-6 0.3 0.1 0.0055 0.05 0.3 weld metal, no plastic strain is observed at the crack front
Weld metal 1.5 1 0.001 0.3 0.1 0.008 0.05 0.2
before the external load is applied.

3 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use

 Finite Element Model of 316LN SS Weld Joint Abaqus FEA was used to perform finite element calculations,
and 2D plane strain elements were used along with 4-noded
Figure 2. shows the finite element model used in the isoparametric formulation (CPE4R) and reduced integration.
analyses. (a) shows the meshes of the FE model and the loading,
boundary conditions used for the analyses are shown in fig. Reference point RP-1 is constraint from x-displacement and
2(b). RP-2 is constraint from x-displacement and y- displacement.
Displacement control loading was performed on each specimen
with load line displacement (LLD) movement equal to 12mm
applied at RP-1 as shown in fig. 2(b). The actual crack growth
path along the specimen thickness direction could not be
obtained by the 2D analysis. It is found that the rectangular
mesh with aspect ratio equal to 2 near the crack growth area can
simulate stable crack growth with reduced oscillations [11].
Hence, the mesh size of aspect ratio 2 is maintained near the
crack growth region. All FE models have same dimensions and
similar loading and boundary conditions were used. It is to be
noted that the we have used straight weld interfaces in the finite
element models.

Numerical simulation results

316LN SS weld joint with central crack in weld metal:

The GTN parameters determined in the previous section are

used to study the ductile crack growth initiation and
propagation of welded 316LN SS using CT specimen of a/W =
0.5. The weld width is 14mm with notch and pre-crack placed
at the centre of the weld. Crack opening displacement is
distance measured between two nodes with increase in applied
displacement at the load pin as shown in Fig. 3(a). The fig. 3(a)
also shows the elements reached fF value near the weld region

Figure 2. (a) Mesh for a CT specimen, (b) loading and

boundary conditions on the CT specimen

4 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use

 Figure 3. (a) shows the crack propagation in the CT specimen Figure 4. Comparison between without residual stress and with
when f reaches fF, (b) comparison of experimental and residual stresses for crack sizes a/W = 0.5 and a/W = 0.6.
numerical curves force vs crack opening displacement (COD)
curves The effect of residual stresses on load bearing capacity of the
weld structure is shown in fig. 4. It is observed from that the
and these elements (also called stress free elements) explains elastic behavior of the structure is not effected by the presence
the crack propagation phenomenon with applied displacement of residual stresses. The weld structure plasticity behavior is
at the welded region using GTN damage model. This observed to be effected by the presence of the residual stresses.
phenomenon also gives us an easy way to calculate change in
crack length by measuring the distance from initial crack tip to The effect of residual stresses is profoundly seen on the weld
the current element which reaches fF. In this way, the obtained structure having a/W=0.5. For a/W=0.6, the presence of
load vs COD is plotted and shown in Fig. 3(b). This residual stresses distribution has a little effect on the behavior
numerically obtained load vs COD is compared with of weld structure. The effect of change in crack size on the load
experimental results provided by IGCAR, Kalpakkam. This bearing capacity of the weld structure is understood well. The
comparison shows the elastic regions of the finite element curve load bearing capacity of the structure decreases with the
and experimental curve are identical and plastic region of increase in crack size. The reasons for such behavior is due to
curves are not quite identical. More numerical studies and in- the presence of high stress triaxiality and high equivalent plastic
situ tests are required at several regions of the weld joints to strains present ahead of the crack tip for high crack lengths.
predict the crack growth resistance close to experiments. Such This increases the compliances of the structure to reduce the
general agreement between the simulated and experimental load bearing capacity of the structure.
results implies that the current set of GTN parameters for weld
metal are acceptable and can be used for further prediction. From fig. 4, the effect of crack size on the load bearing capacity
Hence the evaluated GTN parameters is used for the further shows such similar behavior. The presence of residual stresses
simulations on 316LN SS weld joints. on the weld structure is found to be seen only in plastic region.
The distributed residual stresses mapped onto the cracked FE-
Ductile Crack Growth Behavior of Weld Joint with model is very low compared to the yield stress of the weld
Different Crack Lengths metal. Hence, the applied residual stresses could not deform the
weld metal before applying external load or displacements. This
In the CT specimen analysis, different initial crack lengths have causes no change in the elastic behavior of the weld structure.
great influence on the crack initiation, growth and load bearing The influences of residual stresses on the plastic region is
capacity. To investigate the influence of residual stress on crack observed in the early portion of the plastic curve. The effect of
behavior and crack size, specimens with different initial crack residual stresses is slowly diminishing in the later part of the
lengths (a/W = 0.5 and 0.6) were used to simulate load vs load curve.
line displacement (LLD) curve.

5 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use

 Ductile Crack Growth Behavior of Weld Joint with presence of residual stresses has no effect on the elastic region.
Different Initial Porosities The weld metal plasticity behavior is effected by the presence
of residual stress distribution.
Ductile crack growth behavior for different values of initial
porosities in the weld structure is studied. The different values Conclusions
of initial porosities used for this study are f0 = 0.001, 0.008, and
0.05. The values of f0 used for this study are chosen from the This paper studied the effect of residual stresses on the load
values calibrated for weld metal. The evolution of initial void bearing capacity, crack size and different porosity is studied.
fraction (f0=0.001) to void nucleation (fN=0.008) and critical The influence of crack size (a/W =0.5 and 0.6) and different
void volume fraction (fc=0.05) has also been studied as a part of porosity (f0= 0.001, 0.008, and 0.05) in the weld region on load
this study. bearing capacity is also studied as a part of this paper. Two-
dimensional plain strain FE-model has been utilized to simulate
From fig. 5, it is clearly seen how initial porosity is effecting the the CT specimen behavior. The residual stresses are mapped
load bearing capacity of the weld structure. The behavior of the into the cracked FE-model successfully with good agreement.
weld structure for f0=0.008 clearly shows when the voids starts The ductile crack propagation was performed using GTN
nucleating in this weld structure. Void nucleation triggers the model. The following conclusions have been drawn from this
nucleation of existing voids and newly born voids because of work:
loading. The separation of the two curves (f0=0.001 and 0.008)
clearly shows this void nucleation phenomenon. The behavior  The effect of residual stresses on the behavior of the
of the weld structure when initial porosity is 0.05 heightens the weld joint depends on the values of the residual
effect of the porosity. stresses.

 Low residual stresses can affect the plastic region of

the load bearing capacity and have no effect on the
elastic region.

 Influence of residual stresses on the load bearing

capacity is weaker for deep cracks and the material
with high initial porosity.

References

[1] Sherry A H, Wilkes M A, Sharples J K and Budden P J.

“The assessment of residual stress effects on ductile tearing
using continuum damage mechanics.” Journal of Pressure
Vessel Technology, Vol. 130 No. 4 (2008): pp.041212–1–8.

[2] Liu J, Zhang Z L, Nyhus B. “Residual stress induced crack

tip constraint.” Engineering Fracture Mechanics Vol. 75 No.14
Figure 5. Comparison between without residual stress and with (2008): pp 4151–4166.
residual stresses for different porosities f0 = 0.001, 0.008 &
0.05. [3] Sutham Arun, “Finite Element Modelling of Fracture &
Damage in Austenitic Stainless Steel in Nuclear Power Plant.”
The importance of critical void volume fraction fc in the PhD Thesis. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. URL
material behavior is illustrated by selecting the initial porosity https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:268276.
as 0.05. From this behavior, the material selection for structural
operations should have initial porosity very far from critical [4] Ganesh Kumar J, Vijayanand V.D, Nandagopal M, and Laha
void volume fraction. K. “Evaluation of variation of tensile strength across 316LN
stainless steel weld joint using automated ball indentation
The influence of residual stresses at different porosity in the technique.” Materials at High Temperatures Vol. 32 No. 6
weld joint is shown in fig. 5. The influence of residual stresses (2015): pp.619-626.
on the weld metal with f0=0.05 is very little. This shows that the
influence of residual stresses on the material diminishes with [5] Gurson A.L. “Continuum theory of ductile rupture by void
the increases in initial porosity. For f0= 0.001 and 0.008, the nucleation and growth: Part I—Yield criteria and flow rules for

6 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use

 porous ductile media.” Journal of engineering materials and
technology Vol. 99 No. 1 (1977): pp.2-15.

[6] Tvergaard V. and Needleman, A. “Analysis of the cup-cone

fracture in a round tensile bar.” Acta metallurgica Vol. 32 No. 1
(1984): pp.157-169.

[7] Wang H.T, Wang G.Z, Xuan F.Z. and Tu S.T. “Numerical
investigation of ductile crack growth behavior in a dissimilar
metal welded joint.” Nuclear Engineering and Design Vol. 241
No. 8 (2011): pp.3234-3243.

[8] Qian Guo Q, Lu F, Cui H, Yang R, Liu X and Tang X.

“Modelling the crack propagation behavior in 9Cr/CrMoV
welds.” Journal of Materials Processing Technology Vol. 226
(2015): pp.125-133.

[9] Faleskog J, Gao X. and Shih C.F. “Cell model for nonlinear
fracture analysis–I. Micromechanics calibration.” International
Journal of Fracture Vol. 89 No.4 (1998): pp.355-373.

[10] Kami A, Dariani B.M, Vanini A.S, Comsa D.S. and

Banabic, D. “Numerical determination of the forming limit
curves of anisotropic sheet metals using GTN damage model.”
Journal of Materials Processing Technology Vol. 216 (2015):
pp.472-483.

[11] Østby E, Thaulow C. and Zhang Z.l. “Numerical

simulations of specimen size and mismatch effects in ductile
crack growth–Part I: Tearing resistance and crack growth
paths.” Engineering fracture mechanics Vol. 74 No.11 (2007):
pp.1770-17.

[12] Sherry A.H, Da Fonseca J.Q, Goldthorpe M.R. and Taylor

K. “Measurement and modelling of residual stress effects on
cracks.” Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials &
Structures Vol. 30 No.3 (2007): pp.243-257.

7 Copyright © 2018 ASME

Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org on 12/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use