A Study on Measurement of Welding Residual Stress Using ESPI System

In this study, an experimental method has been studied to measure the residual stresses on a specimen with I-groove weldment. The specimens were extracted from I-groove weldment which was joined by SAW (Submerged Arc Welding) with CO2 shield gas. A FEA (Finite Element Analysis) model was developed for the estimation of the residual stresses for the specimen. Measurements were carried out using ESPI(Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry) system which can measure the strain distribution on the surface of specimen. The residual stresses were estimated by the value of strain measured by ESPI system. Strain gages were added to evaluate the accuracy of ESPI system. In addition, a three-dimensional FE model was used to estimate the residual stresses generated by the welding procedure. A thermal elasto-plastic analysis was performed by the FEA. The stresses measured by the experiments were compared with the results of FEA. Also, discussed are the difference and agreement between the stresses obtained by experiments and FEA, respectively.