Some aspects of the design of welded structures subjected to high temperature creep

The design of weldments for high temperature applications has long been a challenging topic. The present design criteria for weldments at elevated temperature are generally a combination of engineering experience and scientific understanding. The latter one, however, is limited. There are hence a number of problems which need to be clarified in the design of the weldments. In the present paper, three problems have been tentatively studied: the location design of welds, the design of weld preparation geometry and the design allowance of weldments. The general finite element method and a damage mechanics approach are used in the analyses. Suggestions are given for improvement of the creep design of weldments