Benchmark study on considering welding-induced distortion in structural stress analysis of thin-plate structures

One of the key challenges for fatigue design of large welded thin structures is the consideration of initial distortions in the response analysis. The objective of this benchmark is to map the limitations of the current rules and to support the development of fatigue assessment guidelines for thin welded structures. The case study is a 4-mm thick full-scale stiffened panel, which is a part of a cruise ship deck structure and subjected to uniaxial uniformly distributed tensile load. The welding induced distortion related to butt-welded structure is included with different level of simplification and both shell and solid elements have been utilized in the finite element analysis. The estimated normal strain is compared with the experimentally measured one at a distance of approximately 8 mm away from the weld toe and root notches. The influence of modelling approach on the estimated structural hot spot stress and the fatigue critical location along the butt weld is compared and discussed.