A finite element procedure for prediction of tube hole distortion due to welding of large perforated plates

Large tubesheets are critical components of huge heat exchangers and have to be fabricated by welding together two or more pieces. These parts are previously drilled in order to get reasonable productivity, but are affected by welding-induced residual stress and distortion. The tube holes are important, as several thousand tubes will be fastened to them, so it is crucial to evaluate their welding distortion to properly design the manufacturing process.This paper presents a finite element simulation of multipass welding of large tubesheets in order to compute the induced tube hole distortions.A welding experiment was conducted on a reduced-scale structure, in order to calibrate and validate the numerical model. Good agreement was found between experimental and numerical data.