Residual stresses in butt-welded steel plates. --.

During the past decade great advances have been made in the art of welding, so much so, that it has superceded many other methods of making joints and assembling parts. The resulting products have become more satisfactory in every respect as many of the detrimental characteristics have been brought under control and taken care of by changes in the welding details or in the design of the parts. However, it is upon these characteristics that continued study must be made with the object in view of formulating practical procedures to overcome them. Since there are so many variables in the problem and so much depending upon the personal element with regard to the welder, it will be only by well planned and continued research and strict qualification tests that reasonable agreement between the designed and resulting product will be obtained. When all is said and done the joints are the elements of a structure which require most consideration and all types of joints (weld, rivet, etc.) are limited by certain properties of which mere mention of some is included: 1. Stress concentration due to shape of the joint; 2. Shrinkage stresses arising from the joining process; 3. Heterogeneity of structure and composition of plate and added metal (Weld, rivet, etc.) in the joint. 4. Workmanship. [...] Everyone who has had contact with welding recognizes the existence of these stresses but many wish to dismiss them as inconsequental [...