The development of tools and methods to manage residual stresses in the future design of nuclear plant

A long-term UK research programme [1], [2] and [3] on residual stresses was launched in 2004. It involves Rolls-Royce plc and Serco Assurance, supported by UK industry and academia. The programme involves the use of finite element analysis to simulate welding processes and supporting experimental validation [4] using a variety of residual stress measurement techniques.This programme is aimed at progressing the understanding of residual stresses in nuclear plant components, whilst developing weld modelling analysis tools and residual stress measurement methods. These analysis tools will then be used to develop strategies to minimise welding residual stresses and distortions in the design and manufacture of future plant.This paper describes the research that has been carried out to date and the tools and methods which are currently being used and developed to assist the engineer in determining the residual stress distribution in welded components as required by assessment procedures such as BS7910 [5], R6 [6] and FITNET [7].