Effect of plasticity on residual stresses obtained by the incremental hole-drilling method with 3D FEM modelling

The incremental hole-drilling method is used to determine high residual welding stresses in an orthotropic bridge deck. When comparing the measurement results with a theoretical residual stress distribution of an orthotropic steel deck, a large difference in sign and magnitude of the residual stress values is observed. These measurement results are presented in another paper. The test method, specified in ASTM E837-13a only applies when the material behavior is linear-elastic. Relaxed-plastic strain can be detected in the region of the bored hole for the evaluation of high residual welding stresses. This plastic behavior can result in a significant error of the residual stresses. In this paper, the hole-drilling procedure is simulated and the effect of plasticity on the determination of residual stresses is studied with three-dimensional finite element modelling. The calculation software Siemens NX 9.0 is used to simulate the hole-drilling procedure with both linear-elastic and elastic-plastic material behavior. First, a 3D model is set up for uniform in-depth residual stress fields with a linear-elastic material behavior to determine the calibration coefficients. The same model is used to determine similar calibration coefficients but this time with a simplistic model of material plasticity. The effect of plasticity on the uniform in-depth residual stresses is determined. The residual stresses obtained under the assumption that the material behavior is linear-elastic are an overestimation. In future research, residual strains for non-uniform in-depth residual stresses can also be studied with similar models. This will result in a more accurate determination of the residual weld stresses present in bridge constructions. (author)