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Effects of welding-induced residual stress on

ultimate strength of plates and stiffened panels
a a
Imtaz Khan & Shengming Zhang
a
Lloyd's Register , 71 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 4BS, UK
Published online: 23 Feb 2011.

To cite this article: Imtaz Khan & Shengming Zhang (2011) Effects of welding-induced residual stress on ultimate strength
of plates and stiffened panels, Ships and Offshore Structures, 6:4, 297-309, DOI: 10.1080/17445301003776209

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445301003776209

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 Ships and Offshore Structures
Vol. 6, No. 4, 2011, 297–309

Effects of welding-induced residual stress on ultimate strength of plates and stiffened panels
Imtaz Khan∗ and Shengming Zhang
Lloyd’s Register, 71 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4BS, UK
(Received 8 August 2009; final version received 14 February 2010)

During the welding of steel-plated structures, geometric distortions and residual stresses are developed. The influence of
welding-induced geometric distortions and residual stresses on the compressive ultimate strength in longitudinal direction of
plates and stiffened panels were investigated using nonlinear finite element analyses considering a range of plate thicknesses
with various levels of residual stresses. The residual stresses in plates and stiffened panels have been modelled carefully and
their effects on these structures due to welding-induced imperfections only are studied. The results and insights observed
from the current study are presented.
Keywords: plates; stiffened panels; ultimate strength; geometric distortion; residual stress
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Introduction
Understanding the behaviour of plates and stiffened panels
under predominantly compressive loads is very important
for design of ship structures. Often the hull girder strength
depends very much on the collapse strength of the deck.
The compressive strength of plates and stiffened panels
is mainly governed by their slenderness (Faulkner 1975).
However, the influence of geometric deformations has long
been recognised and proposals have been made to incorpo-
rate these deformations in the design process.
Steel-plated structures, such as ships, offshore platform
decks and box girder bridges, are welded as assemblies
of individual steel plate elements. When stiffening mem-
bers are welded to the plate, the welding temperatures take
on such extreme values that considerable residual stress
and geometric distortions are developed. A number of
studies related to the effect of welding-induced geomet-
ric deflection magnitude on the collapse behaviour of steel
plates have been previously carried out (i.e. by Dwight and
Moxham 1969; Faulkner et al. 1973; Carlsen and Czujko
1978; Masubuchi 1980; Ueda 1999; Paik and Thayamballi
2003; Masaoka and Mansour 2004; Paik et al. 2004).
The shape of welding-induced geometric distortion in
steel plate elements is normally very complex (Antoniou
1980; Antoniou et al. 1984; Kmiecik et al. 1995) and it
has been recognised that the shape of geometric distortions
can significantly affect the behaviour of plate elements at
the ultimate strength and also after the ultimate strength is
reached. In this regard, considerable research efforts have
been devoted to investigate the effect of welding-induced
geometric distortion shape on plate collapse behaviour (e.g.
Kmiecik 1970; Ueda and Yao 1985; Paik and Pedersen
1996; Guedes Soares et al. 2005). The insights developed
by these studies are quite useful to accommodate the geo-
metric distortion shape into the ultimate limit state design
of steel plate elements as a parameter of influence. Paik
et al. (2009) recently studied the effects of welding-induced
residual stresses on high-tensile steel plate ultimate strength
using ANSYS finite element software. Most of the previ-
ous studies other than Paik’s recent studies in this regard
were concerned with the effect of the geometric distortion
alone rather than the combined effect of residual stress and
geometric distortions. This paper intends to provide more
insight in this regard.
It has been noted that the ultimate compressive strength
of plates and stiffened panels decreases due to the presence
of welding-induced residual stress and geometric distor-
tions. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of
welding-induced residual stress on the collapse behaviour
of steel plate and stiffened panels with a fixed realistic shape
of geometric distortion. The amount of residual stress has
been varied to categorise its effect on the ultimate compres-
sive strength.
Shapes of geometric distortions and boundary
conditions
Various studies (e.g. Carlsen and Czujko 1978; Antoniou
1980; Antoniou et al. 1984; Ueda and Yao 1985; Smith et al.
1988; Kmiecik et al. 1995) have presented measured values
of welding-induced geometric distortion in merchant ship
plates. It is realised that the aspect ratio of plates as well as

∗
Corresponding author. Email: imtaz.khan@saipem.com
ISSN: 1744-5302 print / 1754-212X online
Copyright  C 2011 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445301003776209
http://www.tandfonline.com
 298 I. Khan and S. Zhang

Figure 1. The shape of geometric distortions and the boundary condition for the plate. (This figure is available in colour online.)

other factors such as welding conditions and material prop- r Local mode of distortion and
erties strongly influence the shape of geometric distortions. r Global mode of distortion.
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These effects also introduce the residual stress in a plate.

The local mode of distortions is experienced in the plate
and the web (Figure 2a,b). In the local mode of distortion,
Geometric distortion the web and plate have a sinusoidal mode along the lon-
For this study, an unstiffened plate and a stiffened panel of gitudinal and transverse direction. The exact shape of the
four stiffeners with various plate thicknesses have been cho- distorted model can be visualised from the Figures 2a and
sen. For both the plates and stiffened panels, the number of 2b. The global mode of distortion is considered for the plate
half-waves along the longitudinal direction due to geomet- and a tilt in the stiffener is incorporated as can be seen from
ric distortion has been considered to be the nearest natural Figures 2c and 2d. The global mode of distortion also has
number to the aspect ratio (a/b = 5.3). The shape of the sinusoidal shape with different phase difference. The local
geometric distortions of the unstiffened plate is considered and global geometric distortions have been superimposed
to follow a sinusoidal curve, given by: to create the desired distortion shape as shown in Figure 3
(left). The scantling and material property of the stiffened



mπ x πy panel is shown in Table 1.
wz = wp cos sin , where m = 5 (1)
a b

and where m is the number of half-waves in the longitudinal
direction of the plate. Also, a is the longitudinal frame
spacing and b is the spacing between two stiffeners. The
x-axis is along the longitudinal direction and the y-axis
is along the transverse direction of the plate as shown in
the Figure 1. Note that, wp is the maximum amplitude
of deflection in the plate and is equal to b/200. Simply
supported boundary conditions have been considered for
the plate and are shown in Figure 1.
For stiffened panel, two types of geometric distortions
have been considered:
Welding-induced residual stress
Figure 4 represents a typical welding-induced residual
stress pattern in a welded box member. Typical resid-
ual stress distributions in welded steel members represent
the tensile residual stresses developed in the heat-affected
zones and the compressive residual stresses that then must
also coexist to achieve an equilibrium condition in the plane
of the member. For practical design purposes, the welding-
induced residual stress distributions of a plate element be-
tween support members may be idealised to be composed of
tensile and compressive stress blocks, as shown in Figure 5.

Table 1. Scantlings of the stiffened panel with four stiffeners.

Young’s Poisson Yield

a (mm) b (mm) tp (mm) hw (mm) tw (mm) bf (mm) tf (mm) Modulus (E) ratio (γ ) Stress (σy )

4300 815 17.8 463 8 172 17 205.8 GPa 0.3 315 MPa

Where a = frame spacing along longitudinal direction, b = spacing between two stiffeners, tp = plate thickness, hw = web height, tw = web thickness,
bf = breadth of flange and tf = flange thickness.
 Ships and Offshore Structures 299

ww
Panel section at x = 0
ww 1 = ww cos ( maπx ) sin (nhπz)
w

z
y
(a)
wp
B

z
wp1 = wp cos ( maπx ) sin (nbπy)
Panel section at y = b/2
(b) x wp

a/2 a a/2

z Transverse frame Panel section at y = B/2

x wg
(c)
a wg
a/2 a/2
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πx
w w = hw /200; w p = b/200;
( )
wy = y. sin θ.cos a , where θ = sin
–1 Ws
hw ( )
ws
wg = w s = a/1000
θ Panel section at x = 0 πx πy
( ) ( )
wg1 = wg cos a sin
B
z
y wg
(d)
B

Figure 2. The shape of geometric distortion in the stiffened panel model. (a) local mode of distortion in the plate and web for the panel
section at x = 0 along the transverse direction, (b) shape of the stiffened panel plate along the longitudinal direction, (c) shape of the
global mode of distortion along the longitudinal direction and (d) shape of the global mode of distortion in the plate, web and flange.

Figure 3. Left, welding-induced geometric distortion in the stiffened panel considering local and global modes (magnified by 30 times).
Right, applied boundary condition for the stiffened panel. The plate along the line AB (transverse axis) has been fixed in vertical direction.
 300 I. Khan and S. Zhang
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Figure 4. Typical residual stress pattern in a welded box member,
b/t = 80, σ 0 = 402 N/mm2 (Faulkner 1975).
The equilibrium requirement for the tensile and compres-
sive stresses provides a relationship between the magnitude
of compressive residual stress, σr in the plating and the
widths η × t of the tension zones each side of the weld
(Faulkner 1975):
σr 2η
= .
σ0 (b/t) − 2η
The magnitude of residual compressive stress is re-
lated to η (Equation 2). Generally, for welded ships η is
considered to have values between 4.5 and 6, but allow-
ing shakedown values between 3 and 4.5 are considered
more appropriate. In this study three levels of compressive
residual stress have been considered, namely low (0.05 σy ),
medium (0.15 σy ) and high (0.25 σy ). The values of η for
Figure 5. Idealised residual stress pattern in a plate and a web with edge welds (definition of η). To maintain equilibrium, the applied
stress area multiplied by the applied compressive residual stress should be equal to the area multiplied by the tensile residual stress.
these magnitudes of residual stress are 2.45, 4.99 and 6.4
respectively. The values for this study are derived based on
the amount of residual compressive stress applied to the
chosen scantling of the plate.
Nonlinear finite element analysis using Abaqus
Nonlinear finite element method (FEM) has been used to
obtain rational values of the ultimate compressive strength
for simply supported unstiffened plates and stiffened pan-
els. The commercially available finite element software
Abaqus version 6.7 has been used for this study. Four-node
isoparametric shell elements are used. Static Riks method
has been used to perform the nonlinear finite element anal-
ysis. This method can provide solutions even in cases of
complex and unstable response.
Modelling of geometric distortions and residual
stresses
The plates and stiffened panels are modelled in Abaqus
CAE. The model was meshed to the required element size.
An input file was created in the job module. A program
incorporating the local and global distortions has been cre-
ated using Visual C++. The coordinates of the nodes of
the model from the input (.inp file) were modified using the
program to the required magnitude and shape of the geo-
metric distortions. After the coordinates of the nodes of the
model were changed, the modified input file was imported
into Abaqus CAE to generate the model with geometric dis-
(2)
tortions. The residual stress was included in the imperfect
model by editing the keywords.
Compressive strength of plates
The dimension of the plates are a × b = 4300 × 815 mm
with variable thicknesses of t = 9.1, 12.8, 17.8, 21.3 and 32
mm respectively. The yield stress and other material prop-
erties for the plate are the same as the stiffened panel, as
 Ships and Offshore Structures
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Figure 6. Meshed imperfect plate model showing the welding-induced residual stress distribution (a × b = 4300 × 815 mm). (This
figure is available in colour online.)
shown in Table 1. For the plates, five different thicknesses
with three variable magnitudes of residual stress have been
considered. The compressive residual stresses are varied
from 0 to 0.25 σy for each thickness. By performing non-
linear finite element analysis, normalised stress and defor-
mation along the longitudinal axis are obtained. The de-
formation along the longitudinal axis has been normalised
to produce the normalised strain. The load shortening or
stress-strain curves produced with different thickness and
residual stresses are plotted in Figures 7–11 and the ulti-
mate compressive strengths for the plates are presented in
Table 2.
The ultimate compressive strength of the plates with
residual stresses have been compared with the one without
any residual stress, as shown in the last column of Table 2.
The ultimate compressive strength decreases with the in-
crease of compressive residual stress. When the plate is thin
or very thick the effect of residual stress is marginal, but
for a moderately thick plate (β = 1.5, 1.79 in this case) the
effect of residual stress is very prominent.
Figure 6 represents a plate with applied residual stress
before the nonlinear analysis was performed. The com-
pressive residual stress block is surrounded by two tensile
301
residual stress blocks. Figure 7 shows the load shortening
curves for the plate with thickness 9.1 mm. The load short-
ening curve for the imperfect plates without residual stress
is observed to decline sharply after it has achieved the ul-
timate strength, and the ultimate strength is observed to be
marginally higher compared to the other cases considering
the presence of welding-induced residual stresses. With the
increase of residual stress magnitude the ultimate strength
decreases marginally for this plate, but corresponding strain
at the ultimate strength also increases with an increase of
residual stress. It could be argued that the presence of ten-
sile residual stresses induces certain degrees of ‘harden-
ings’, hence the ultimate strengths are achieved at higher
strain values.
Figure 8 presents the load shortening curves for the plate
with 12.8 mm thickness. The curve with zero residual stress
shows smooth decline and change of slope. The curves with
welding-induced residual stress show a different pattern.
The load shortening curve with 0.05 σy of welding-induced
compressive residual stress demonstrates a smooth decline
in the post-collapse region, whereas the load shortening
curves with 0.15 σy and 0.25 σy residual compressive stress
show a sudden decline in the post-collapse region.
 302 I. Khan and S. Zhang

Ultimate compressive strength of the 9.1 mm thick plate

0.6

0.5

0.4
σu /σY

0.3

0.2
a × b × t = 4300 × 815 × 9.1 mm
Compressive residual stress = 0 E = 205.8 GPa, σY =315 MPa
1/2
Compressive residual stress = 5% w opl = b/200, β = (b/t)(σY /E) = 3.50
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0.1
Compressive residual stress = 15%

Compressive residual stress = 25%

0 0 .5 1 1 .5 2 2.5
ε/ε y

Figure 7. Load shortening curve of the 9.1 mm thick plate with varying magnitudes of compressive residual stress.

Ultimate compressive strength of the 12.8 mm thick plate

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4
σu /σY

0.3

Compressive residual stress = 0

0.2
Compressive residual stress = 5% a × b × t = 4300 × 815 × 12.8 mm
E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa
Compressive residual stress = 15% 1/2
w opl = b/200, β = (b/t)(σY /E) = 2.49
0.1 Compressive residual stress = 25%

0
0 0.5 1 1 .5 2 2 .5
ε/ε y

Figure 8. Load shortening curve of the 12.8 mm thick plate with varying magnitudes of compressive residual stress.
 Ships and Offshore Structures 303

Ultimate compressive strength of a 17.8 mm thick plate

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
σu /σY

0.4

Compressive residual stress = 0 a × b × t = 4300 × 815 × 17.8 mm

0.3 Compressive residual stress = 5% E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa
1/2
Compressive residual stress = 15% wopl = b/200, β =(b/t)(σY /E) = 1.79

0.2 Compressive residual stress = 25%

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0.1

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

ε /ε y

Figure 9. Load shortening curve of the 17.8 mm thick plate with varying magnitudes of compressive residual stress.

Ultimate compressive strength of the 21.3 mm thick plate

1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
σu /σY

0.5

0.4 a × b × t = 4300 × 815 × 21.3 mm

Compressive residual stress = 0 E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa
Compressive residual stress = 5% 1/2
w opl = b/200, β = (b/t)(σY /E) = 1.50
0.3
Compressive residual stress = 15%
Compressive residual stress = 25%
0.2

0.1

0 0 .5 1 1 .5 2 2.5
ε/ε y

Figure 10. Load shortening curve of the 21.3 mm thick plate with varying magnitudes of compressive residual stress.
 304 I. Khan and S. Zhang

Ultimate compressive strength of the 32mm thick plate

1.2

0.8
σu /σY

0.6

0.4 a × b × t = 4300 × 815 × 32 mm

E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa
Compressive residual stress = 0 1/2
wopl = b/200, β = (b/t)(σY /E) = 1.00
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Compressive residual stress = 5%

0.2 Compressive residual stress = 15%
Compressive residual stress = 25%

0 0.5 1 1 .5 2 2.5
ε/ε y

Figure 11. Load shortening curves of the 32 mm thick plate with varying magnitudes of compressive residual stress.

Figure 9 represents the load shortening curve for the

Table 2. Ultimate compressive stress of the plate (a × b × t = plate with 17.8 mm thickness. The load shortening curves
4300 × 815 ×t mm) with geometric distortions and welding- show different behaviour compared to the previously dis-
induced residual stress.
cussed 9.1 mm and 12.8 mm thick plates. When the
% of Comp. % of Tensile plate doesn’t have any residual stress the change in the
% Difference
Thickness Residual Residual
(σu /σy )r
−1
slope of load shortening curve after the collapse is higher
(σu /σy )0
(mm) stress stress σu /σy × 100
Table 3. Ultimate compressive stress of the stiffened panel with
9.1 0 0 0.533 geometric distortions and welding-induced residual stress (a ×
β = 3.50 5 60 0.5317 −0.244 b × t = 4300 × 815 × t mm).
15 80 0.5254 −1.426
25 100 0.5185 −2.720 % of Comp. % of Tensile
0 0 0.6443 % Difference
(σu /σy )r
12.8 5 60 0.6429 −0.217 Thickness Residual Residual (σu /σy )0
−1
β = 2.49 15 80 0.6353 −1.397 (t) (mm) stress stress σu /σy × 100
25 100 0.6253 −2.949
0 0 0.8109 0 0 0.7053
17.8 5 60 0.7824 −3.515 12.8 5 60 0.6925 −1.81
β = 1.79 15 80 0.7427 −8.410 β = 2.49 15 80 0.6679 −5.30
25 100 0.7319 −9.742 25 100 0.6331 −10.24
0 0 0.8966 0 0 0.7985
21.3 5 60 0.8673 −3.268 17.8 5 60 0.7785 −2.50
β = 1.5 15 80 0.8221 −8.309 β = 1.79 15 80 0.7470 −6.45
25 100 0.796 −11.220 25 100 0.7000 −12.34
0 0 0.986 0 0 0.8545
32 5 60 0.9779 −0.822 21.3 5 60 0.8313 −2.72
β = 1.00 15 80 0.9724 −1.379 β = 1.5 15 80 0.7916 −7.36
25 100 0.9705 −1.572 25 100 0.7442 −12.91
 Ships and Offshore Structures
12
10
Percentage decrease in compressive stress
4
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0
0.5 1 1.5
Figure 12. Decrease in the ultimate compressive strength of plate with different slenderness ratios with varying amount of welding-
induced residual stress. (This figure is available in colour online.)
compared to the plates with residual stress. Furthermore,
with an increase in the magnitude of residual stress, the
strain at collapse also increases. This phenomenon may be
due to the presence of the residual stress. Similar behaviour
is observed for the 21.3 mm and 32 mm thick plates as
shown in Figures 10 and 11.
From Table 2, the change in the ultimate strength of
plates due to the presence of residual stress can be observed.
It can be noticed that with an increase in the residual stress
magnitude, the ultimate strength decreases. On the other
hand, the margin of decrease in the ultimate strength is de-
pendent on the slenderness ratios or the thickness of the
plates. Figure 12 represents the decrease in the ultimate
strength of plates with respect to the slenderness ratios (β)
of the plates. For very thick plates the decrease in the ulti-
mate strength due to an increase in residual stress is small
and similar trends are also observed for thin plates. The
plates with slenderness ratios 1.49 and 1.79 show a large
decrease in the ultimate strength with increased welding-
induced residual stress.
Compressive strength of stiffened panels
Different magnitudes of welding-induced residual stress
have been applied to stiffened panel models and nonlin-
ear finite element analysis has been performed. The effect
305
5 % Residual compressive stress
15 % Residual compressive stress
25 % Residual compressive stress
2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Slenderness Ratio (β )
of welding-induced residual stress on longitudinal ultimate
strength of stiffened panels has been calculated for this
study and its effect on the transverse ultimate strength will
be studied by the authors in future. Three plate thicknesses
of 12.8 mm, 17.8 mm and 21.3 mm have been studied with
a range of 0–0.25 σy compressive residual stresses. The
load shortening curves obtained from these analyses are
presented in Figures 14–16. These thicknesses have been
chosen to show the maximum effect of welding-induced
residual stress on the compressive strength of the stiffened
plates. The distribution of applied residual stress is pre-
sented in Figure 5 (right side) and Figure 13. In case of
a stiffened panel, the residual stresses have been applied
in the welded region of the web and plate. The connection
between the web and the flange is assumed to be free of
residual stresses.
As it can be observed from Figure 14, the load shorten-
ing curve with no residual stress has a sharp decline after the
collapse. On the other hand, the slope of the post-collapse
load shortening curves for the stiffened panels with residual
stress declines less significantly and the collapse occurs at
a higher strain. With the increase in the magnitude of resid-
ual stress applied, the length of the ‘no load shedding zone’
(cf. Figure 17) increases and higher post-collapse stresses
are observed. Similar trends are observed for the stiffened
panel with plate thicknesses of 17.8 mm and 21.3 mm.
 306 I. Khan and S. Zhang
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Figure 13. Meshed imperfect stiffened panel model showing the residual stress distribution in the plate and the webs. (This figure is
available in colour online.)
Ultimate strength of the stiffened panel with initial imperfections and residual stress, plate thickness (t p) =12.8mm

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
σu /σy

0.4

0.3

0.2 Compressive residual stress = 0

a × (b × tp + hw x tw + bf × tf ) = 4300 ×( 815 × 12.8 +
Compressive residual stress = 5% 463 × 8 + 172 × 17) mm
E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa
0.1 Compressive residual stress = 15%
w os = w oc = a/1000, wow = hw /200, w opl = b/200,
Compressive residual stress = 25% β = (b/tp)(σY /E)1/2 = 2.49

0 0 .5 1 1.5 2 2 .5
ε/εy

Figure 14. Load shortening curves of stiffened panel with 12.8 mm thick plate considering different values of compressive residual
stress.
 Ships and Offshore Structures 307

Ultimate strength of the stiffened panel with initial imperfections and residual stress, plate thickness (tp) =17.8 mm
0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
σu/σy

0.4

0.3

a × (b × tp + hw × tw + bf × tf ) = 4300 × ( 815 × 17.8 +

0.2 Compressive residual stress = 0
463 × 8 + 172 × 17) mm
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Compressive residual stress = 5% E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa

wos = woc = a/1000, wow = hw /200, wopl = b/200,
0.1 Compressive residual stress = 15%
β = (b/tp)(σY /E) = 1.79
1/2

Compressive residual stress = 25%

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

ε/εy

Figure 15. Load shortening curves of stiffened panel with 17.8 mm thick plate considering different values of compressive residual
stress.

Ultimate strength of the stiffened panel with initial imperfections and residual stress, plate thickness (tp) =21.3 mm

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
σu /σy

0.4

0.3

a × (b × tp + hw × tw + bf × tf ) = 4300 × ( 815 × 21.3 + 463 × 8

0.2 Compressive residual stress = 0
Compressive residual stress = 5%
0.1
Compressive residual stress = 15%
Compressive residual stress = 25%
+ 172 × 17) mm
E = 205.8 GPa, σY = 315 MPa
wos = woc = a/1000, wow = hw /200, wopl = b/200,
β = (b/tp)(σY /E)1/2 = 1.50

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

ε/εy

Figure 16. Load shortening curves of stiffened panel with 21.3 mm thick plate considering different values of compressive residual
stress.
 308 I. Khan and S. Zhang

change compared to the stiffened panel with a slenderness

No load shedding zone ratio of 2.49.

Conclusion and discussions

σu /σy

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the

welding-induced residual stress on the ultimate compres-
sive strength of plates and stiffened panels with a fixed
amplitude of geometric distortion, using nonlinear finite el-
Load shedding zone
ement analysis. The magnitude of residual stress has been
Stable varied, so as to investigate its effect. Same shape of the geo-
metric distortions has been considered. Some observations
ε /εy are noted below:

Figure 17. Typical load shortening curve showing the no load

shedding zone. 1. The ultimate compressive strength of plate and stiffened
panel decreases due to the presence of welding-induced
geometric distortions and residual stresses. For plates
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The decrease in the ultimate compressive strength of with slenderness ratio (β) 1.5 and 1.79, the ultimate
the stiffened panels with a presence of welding-induced strength decreased up to 11–13% due to the applied
residual stress is presented in Figure 17. It is observed from compressive residual stress only. Similarly, the ultimate
the figure that with an increase in the residual stress, the strength value for the stiffened panel decreased up to
ultimate compressive stress decreases further. The stiffened 10–13% for the maximum applied compressive residual
panel with a slenderness ratio of 1.5 has a higher rate of stress for the chosen cases.

14%
Decrese in the utimate compressive strength of stiffened panel

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

5%
15%
2%
25%

0%
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3
Plate slenderness ratio ( β )

Figure 18. Decrease in the ultimate compressive strength of stiffened plate with different plate slenderness ratio with varying welding-
induced residual stress. (This figure is available in colour online.)
 Ships and Offshore Structures
2. The percentage decrease in the ultimate strength is de-
pendent on the amount of residual stress applied and
the plate slenderness ratio. For example, when the ap-
plied compressive residual stress is 5%, the maximum
decrease in ultimate strength is 3.5% for plates and 2.7%
for the stiffened panels. Whereas, when 25% compres-
sive residual stress is applied the maximum decrease in
ultimate strength is 11.2% for plates and 12.9% for the
stiffened panels.
3. Due to the presence of welding-induced residual stress,
the plates and stiffened panels reach their ultimate
strength at higher strains. The presence of tensile resid-
ual stresses induces certain degree of ‘hardening ef-
fect’, hence the ultimate strengths are achieved at higher
strains.
4. For the cases considered, the effect of welding-induced
residual stress is significant for plates with slenderness
ratios around 1.5 and 1.8. Whereas for the stiffened
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panels the effect of residual stress becomes significant
when a high value of compressive residual stress is
applied.
5. In the post-collapse region of the plates and stiff-
ened panels with welding-induced residual stress, the
load shortening curves show higher values of stress
compared to that without any residual stress, so the
structural capacity of the plates and stiffened panel
are higher with the presence of residual stress in the
elements.
This study was carried out on a limited number of struc-
tural models and a few levels of residual stresses. More
studies would be beneficial on a range of structural param-
eters and various levels of residual stress levels to obtain
inclusive conclusions.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Mr. Tim Hall and their colleagues
in Lloyd’s Register for their support and comments. The views
expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not neces-
sarily those of Lloyd’s Register.
Lloyd’s Register, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their re-
spective officers, employees or agents are, individually and col-
lectively, referred to in this clause as the ‘Lloyd’s Register Group’.
The Lloyd’s Register Group assumes no responsibility and shall
not be liable to any person for any loss, damage or expense caused
by reliance on the information or advice in this document or how-
soever provided, unless that person has signed a contract with the
relevant Lloyd’s Register Group entity for the provision of this in-
formation or advice, and in that case any responsibility or liability
is exclusively on the terms and conditions set out in that contract.
309
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