Welding of girders with thick plates — Fabrication, measurement and simulation

This article presents experimental and numerical results of the fabrication of welded plate girders under workshop conditions. Main concerns are the prediction of imperfections with the aid of simulation tools and/or simplified engineering models. Their impact on the component design is evaluated in a case study. Special focus is put on the effect of residual welding stress. For this, different simplified distributions are compared with results from welding simulation. The findings confirm the thesis that present recommendations on the implementation of weld-induced imperfections must be rated conservative. This suggests that it is necessary to establish new models. Guidance on future problems in this context will be given.