Prediction of residual stresses induced by TIG welding of a martensitic steel (X10CrMoVNb9-1)

Within the frame of the development of very high temperature nuclear reactors (VHTR) with gas as heat transfer fluid, some technological challenges are to be faced because of these high temperatures, notably the selection of the material used for the reactor vessel and its welding process. This research thesis aims at developing and validating numerical tools and behaviour models for the thermal-metallurgical-mechanical simulation of the multi-pass TIG welding process. The first part describes the development of simple welding tests (Disk-Spot and Disk-Cycle), the use of temperature and displacement measurement during these tests, and deep residual stress measurements, as well as the identification of the thermal limit conditions for the Disk-Spot test. It then discusses the choice and the identification of the thermal-metallurgical-mechanical behaviour model, with a particular attention to phase transformations and to their coupling with thermal and mechanical aspects. Experimental and simulation results are compared, notably in terms of residual stresses. The numerical implementation of the behaviour model and its integration into the CAST3M finite element software are also described