Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Optimization and control of bending distortion of submerged arc

welding I-beams
Mohammed T. Hayajneh ⁎, Abdullah F. Al-Dwairi, Sinan F. Obeidat
Industrial Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, 22110, Jordan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, the bending distortion of I-beams fabricated from steel sheets using submerged arc welding (SAW)
Received 16 November 2016 is investigated. Bending distortion occurs due to non-uniform distribution of heat generated during welding. It is
Received in revised form 19 April 2017 believed that distortion can be minimized by suitable selection of the input parameters of the welding process. In
Accepted 13 December 2017
order to optimize the welding parameters to minimize the bending distortion, a direct experiment is conducted
Available online xxxx
at a manufacturing plant fabricating I-beams. The study employs methods of design of experiments (DoE) and
Keywords:
analysis of variance (ANOVA) to detect the significant parameters affecting the response “the bending distortion”.
Optimization Welding arc voltage, wire feed speed, and welding travel speed are examined by performing three-level full
Submerged arc welding (SAW) factorial design in three blocks. Based on the specifications of the I-beam (web and flange dimensions), the
Bending distortion objective is to properly select the SAW machine's parameters that could minimize the bending distortion.
Design of experiments (DoE) © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

1. Introduction
The weld quality is defined in terms of properties such as weld-bead
geometry, mechanical properties, and distortion. Generally, all welding
processes are used with the aim of obtaining a welded joint with the de-
sired bead geometry and excellent mechanical properties with mini-
mum distortion. Basically, distortion is a thermal problem. During
welding, the weld zone is subjected to high localized heating. Due to un-
even distribution of heat, temperature gradients cause the weld zone to
deform plastically. This deformation happens to the fabricated I-beams
in the form of bending distortion after submerged arc welding (SAW).
Many structural steel elements are produced in form of I-beams.
Elements such as columns and rafters are joined together to build struc-
tures such as warehouses, hangars, and bridges. These elements should
be structurally efficient and free of distortion so that a structure
withstands loads. Therefore, bending distortion must be eliminated or
minimized to an acceptable level. Flame straightening is the most com-
mon procedure used to get rid of distortion. However, this procedure is
time-consuming and labor-intensive. The frequency of flame straight-
ening could be reduced by selecting the proper values of input parame-
ters of the SAW process. Several parameters and factors are affecting the
SAW process. The type of the technology used, voltage, amperage, wire
feed speed, wire diameter, flux type, fixture design, and thermal and
mechanical properties of the weld material are some of these factors.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: hayajneh@just.edu.jo (M.T. Hayajneh), dwairy@just.edu.jo
(A.F. Al-Dwairi), sfobaida@uark.edu (S.F. Obeidat).
Steel structures have high customization with very different specifi-
cations including length, cross section width, web width and thickness,
and flange width and thickness. Therefore, there is no standard proce-
dure to solicit the right values of SAW parameters. SAW machines'
operators use their skills and trial and error to find the suitable values
of parameters for a certain I-beam specification. The main challenge
is to select the best values of these parameters that would create an
excellent welded joint with the required weld-bead geometry and
weld quality with minimal distortion within time and cost constraints.
Several tools and techniques can be used to predict the magnitudes
of distortion. Many of them are based on thermal and mechanical
analyses using finite element method (FEM) to find the distribution
of heat in the welding zone. On the other hand, statistical tools such as
design of experiments (DoE) can be used to identify the significant
parameters that affect bending distortion and mathematical models
can be developed to identify the relationship between the parameters
and the response variable.
This study uses DoE and ANOVA to obtain a model for minimizing
the bending distortion by optimizing SAW process' input parameters.
The developed model can be used to predict the bending distortion
magnitudes under various combinations of the chosen parameters.
2. Literature review
Tarng et al. [1] and Anawa and Olabi [2] use Taguchi method to
optimize SAW hard facing welding and CO2 continuous laser welding
processes respectively. Awang [3] uses FEM to analyze distortion occurs
by using arc welding in curved mild steel plates. Factors include heat
input, speed rate, restraint, plate curvature, and gap tolerance between

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2017.12.012
0143-974X/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85
Fig. 1. Product under study.
plates. Patnaik et al. [4] use nonlinear regression, Taguchi's design, and
genetic algorithm to optimize SAW in hard facing process. Mostafa
and Khajavi [5] develop a mathematical model to predict weld penetra-
tion in flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). Central composite rotatable de-
sign and nonlinear regression are employed to predict weld penetration
in terms of current, arc voltage, nozzle-to-plate distance, electrode-to-
work angle, and welding speed. Dhas and Kumanan [6] propose a hy-
brid system to predict weld quality in SAW. The authors use the artificial
neural network (ANN) trained with particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)
technique to develop the hybrid model. The study investigates the
effects of current, voltage, welding speed, and electrode extension on
various properties of the welding bead geometry.
Murugan and Parmar [7] study the effects of SAW parameters on the
process of cladding 20 mm structural steel using 316 L stainless steel.
Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to investigate the effects
of open-circuit voltage, wire feed speed, welding speed, and nozzle-
to-workpiece distance on the achieved cladding dilution. The authors
find that dilution is low when increasing or decreasing both the voltage
and the welding speed. Grey-based Taguchi method is used by Pal et al.
[8] to optimize pulsed metal inert gas welding process (PMIGW).
The study aims to investigate the influence of pulse voltage, background
voltage, pulse frequency, pulse duty factor, wire feed speed, and
table feed rate on the weld quality. Tensile strength, bead geometry,
transverse shrinkage, angular distortion, and deposition efficiency are
selected as the responses to measure the quality of the welding. The
standard L25 orthogonal array matrix with five levels of each factor is
used to design the experiment and the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio is cal-
culated to select the best factors' levels. 125 mm × 100 mm × 8 mm mild
steel plate with butt joint is used in each experiment. S/N ratios in
Fig. 2. Bending distortion of a welded I-beam.
79
conjunction with ANOVA show that the pulse frequency and the pulse
voltage are the most significant factors. Ma et al. [9] uses FEM to analyze
distortion of temporarily tacked plates. It was found that the angular
distortion is reduced by 50%, while transverse and longitudinal shrink-
ages are not affected by temporary tacking.
Srinivasulu [10] shows that the weld current and voltage are the
most contributing factors affecting the bead geometry in the semi-
automatic SAW. Srinivasulu uses Taguchi's design to study the effects
of weld current, voltage, weld speed, and electrode stick-out on the
weld bead volume. Then ANN is used to optimize (minimize) the
weld bead volume. The heat generated during twin-wire SAW process
is investigated by Sharma et al. [11]. In their study, a mathematical
model is developed to estimate the heat generated from welding. Differ-
ent levels of current, electrode polarity, and wire diameter are used in
the experiment. Ghosh et al. [12] propose an analytical solution to pre-
dict the widths of bead and heat affected zone (HAZ) of structural steel
welds in SAW. The transient temperature is modeled by the Gaussian
heat distribution. Different experiments with different levels of voltage,
current, and travel speed are performed. Welding 12 m mild steel pipes
by automatic SAW is examined by Deshmukh and Teli [13]. The authors
correlate the penetration depth to current, arc voltage, welding speed,
and electrode stick-out factors by conducting L9 three level Taguchi
orthogonal array experiment. The linear regression model shows that
current and voltage are the most influencing factors.
Zain-ul-abdein et al. [14] perform an experiment on thin sheets of
6056 T4 aluminum alloy used in aircraft industry. They use numerical
simulation to analyze distortion resulted from laser beam welding
(LBW). They apply different values of pressures to detect development
of distortion. Deformation occurs in thin sheets welded by laser hybrid
arc welding (LHAW) is studied by Lee and Park [15]. Formulas to predict
angular and transverse shrinkage are developed using numerical simu-
lation and FEM.
Most of the studies aiming to optimize the SAW process are carried
out in small scale using semi-automatic SAW equipment. In these
studies, small specimens with constant dimensions are used. Also,
there are limited studies done to investigate the significant welding
parameters when welding heavy structures. In the literature search,
there are no studies found in large scale where a fully automatic SAW
machine (SAW line) with two welding heads moving simultaneously
is used to weld fabricated I-beams (built-up sections). Practice shows
that considerable resources are wasted in straightening bent beams,
which in turn increases the production cost and delays completion of
Fig. 3. Measuring bending distortion.
80 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85

Table 1
Selection of control parameters.

Parameter/Factor Yes No Why?

Arc Voltage √ (1) Increasing the arc voltage can decrease the penetration.
(2) At high arc voltages, more flux is melted and more alloying elements enter the weld zone which affects weld metal
composition.
Wire Feed Speed √ (1) Increasing wire feed speed will increase heat required. Therefore, probability of distortion occurrence increases.
Travel Speed √ (1) Increasing welding speed increases productivity.
(Machine welding head speed) (2) With the increased speed, the probability of having defects like porosities and undercuts increases.
Flux Type √ (1) Recommended by welding machine supplier.
Electrode Diameter √ (1) It has a small variability. Two sizes are used: 2.0 mm or 2.4 mm.
(2) Changing from 2.0 mm to 2.4 mm or vice versa is time consuming.
Fixturing √ (1) Fixtures are not used.
Joint Type √ (1) All sections have the same welding joint: T-joint with fillet weld.
Pre-heating √ (1) Pre-heating is not used/required. Since all cut plated are long and heavy, having pre-heating facility is not economical.
Steel Material √ (1) (ST-52) mild steel is the only grade used and it is usually supplied from one supplier.
Number of Welding Passes √ (1) Basically, one welding pass is used for about 95% of the I-beams.
Tack Weld √ (1) Tack weld is not used. SAW machine is operated without tack welds.

orders. Elimination or at least minimization of the bending distortion is constraints, only I-beams with lengths of 6 m and having 5 mm fillet
crucial to the production process. Therefore, the objective of this paper weld are examined. The bending distortion is measured by using a
is to develop a model that correlates bending distortion to SAW process' thread tape and an angle ruler at the center of the beam where the
parameters. The model is used to select the best control levels of these maximum value of distortion happens. The measuring process is
parameters to minimize the bending distortion for different sizes of I- illustrated in Fig. 3.
beam cross sections.
3.1. Selection of blocks
3. Methodology and experimental setup
The design of the fabricated I-beams differs from one structure to an-
other. This difference makes the manufacturing process customized-
The product under study is shown in Fig. 1. It is an I-beam consisting
based. In other words, the section geometry which is represented by
of two side plates called flanges and an intermediate one called web.
(Wt,Ww,Ft,Fw) where Wt is the web thickness in mm, Ww is the web
Flanges and web plates are cut from steel sheets to the required dimen-
width in mm, Ft is the flange thickness in mm, and Fw is the flange
sions. They are stacked together and welded by SAW. Two welding
width in mm is highly variable. Accordingly, an investigation is required
heads move simultaneously in order to weld flanges to a web. Basically,
to decide which sections' geometries are to be included in the experiment.
two fillet welding seams are required for most of I-beams as shown in
To make this happens, eighty-seven projects accomplished during four
Fig. 1, but certain I-beams such as beams that carry overhead cranes
years are screened to decide which sections' geometries having the higher
“crane beams” require four welding seams in the four sides of the
frequencies. Based on the frequencies, three sections' geometries are
cross section. In this paper, only beams with two welding seams are
selected as the blocks. (4200–300, (5–6),136–166), (4200–300,
studied.
(8,10),153–181), and (4400–500, (5–6),136–166) are the selected sec-
Before sending flanges and web plates to the SAW station, these
tions and they are denoted as block 1, block 2, and block 3 respectively.
plates are inspected to detect waviness and squareness of edges.
The first block has a web thickness of 4 mm and includes webs of widths
Unusual waviness and squareness, if they exist, could propagate distor-
between 200 mm and 300 mm, flanges with thicknesses and widths be-
tion after welding. Therefore, eliminating or reducing such problems in-
tween 5 mm to 6 mm and 136 mm to 166 mm respectively. The selected
creases the likelihood of having unbiased measurements of the bending
three blocks have a total frequency of 60% of the screened projects.
distortion. After SAW, the amount of bending distortion is measured be-
fore sending beams to the next station where fittings like end plates and
stiffeners are added to the beams. The current control quality procedure 3.2. Selection of input parameters
allows 1 mm per meter of bending distortion. For instance, if the I-beam
length is 10 m, then the maximum allowable distortion is 10 mm mea- SAW process involves many control parameters. Based on literature
sured from the center of the beam and perpendicular to the welding and experience of engineers and SAW operators, parameters such as
seams axis. If the distortion value exceeds the maximum allowable arc voltage, current, wire feed speed, travel speed, flux type, electrode
limit, then straightening work is required. Fig. 2 shows a bent beam
after SAW.
Three SAW parameters with three levels for each parameter are Table 3
selected in the experimental design. The 33 full factorial design with ANOVA of the effects of v, w, and s on the bending distortion, d.
three blocks is used at a significance level α = 0.1. Therefore, 81 mea-
Variation Degrees of Sum of Adjusted Adjusted F-Statistic P-value
surements are collected, 27 in each block. Because of the manufacturing Source freedom squares sum of mean of
(DF) (SS) squares (SS) squares

Blocks 2 124.77 124.77 62.38 4.85 0.012

Table 2 v 2 409.06 409.06 204.53 15.91 0
Levels of control parameters. w 2 66.77 66.77 33.38 2.6 0.084
s 2 57.21 57.21 28.6 2.22 0.118
Parameter Levels v∗w 4 24.57 24.57 6.14 0.48 0.752
v∗s 4 76.79 76.79 19.2 1.49 0.218
L1 L2 L3
w∗s 4 19.53 19.53 4.88 0.38 0.822
Arc Voltage, v (volt) 26 27 28 v∗w∗s 8 109.14 109.14 13.64 1.06 0.404
Wire Feed Speed, w (in/min) 85 107 130 Error 52 668.57 668.57 12.86
Travel Speed, s (mm/min) 1000 1200 1400 Total 80 1556.4 1556.4
 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85 81

Table 4 indicates that the highest level (28 V) should be avoided. Bending
Contributions of the parameters of on the total and the model variations. distortion, d increases linearly by increasing w. For every 22 in/min in-
Variation source % Contribution on total % Contribution on model crease in w, d increases by 1 mm. Consequently, it is flexible for the
variation (1) variation (2) SAW operator to increase or decrease w in wide intervals. In addition,
Blocks 8 14 experimenting values beyond the highest and lowest levels of w could
v 26.3 46 be beneficial to discover if this linear relationship could change. The
w 4.3 7.5 effect of s on d is nearly constant from the lowest level to the medium
s 3.7 6.4
level, but d decreases to 9.9 mm at the highest level. This indicates
v∗w 1.6 2.8
v∗s 4.9 8.6 that d is minimized by increasing s. Furthermore, increasing the value
w∗s 1.3 2.2 of s beyond the highest level is beneficial to verify to which level of s,
v∗w∗s 7 12.2 d can be further minimized. Although, we are not interested to detect
(1) = SS (Main effect/Interaction)/SS (Total). the effects of blocks, it is observable that blocks have significant effects
(2) = SS (Main effect/Interaction)/[SS (Total) – SS (Error)]. on d. I-beams with sections' geometries (4200–300, (5–6),136–166)
and (4400–500, (5–6),136–166) have larger distortion than I-beams
having (4200–300, (8,10),153–181) sections' geometries. Accordingly,
diameter, fixturing, joint type, preheating, steel material grade, number further investigation could be carried out on sections (4200–300,
of welding passes, and tack weld could independently and/or jointly (5–6),136–166) and (4400–500, (5–6),136–166).
cause distortion. It is difficult to include these parameters in the study The following inferences are drawn from the interaction plot:
because of time and cost constraints. Table 1 illustrates the parameters'
selection process, while the chosen levels of the selected parameters are 1. At any level of v, increasing w to the highest level will always increase
listed in Table 2. d. Also, 26 V and 27 V levels have the same effect when increasing w.
2. Increasing v to 28 V at s equals 1000 mm/min increases distortion
4. Results and discussion by 8 mm.
3. At 28 V, increasing s to the highest level will decrease distortion to
A total of 81 experimental runs are carried out, 27 per each block. 12 mm, but it still higher than when increasing s at the other two
Minitab 15 is used to create the factorial design with blocking in random levels. This concludes to select lower levels of v or using a tighter
order to minimize the chance of biased results. The factorial design is range such as 26.0, 26.5, and 27.0.
analyzed by ANOVA as illustrated in Table 3. 4. Operating the SAW machine at s equals 1400 mm/min is better than
The ANOVA table shows that the arc voltage, v and the wire feed operating it at the two lower levels at all levels of v.
speed, w are the significant parameters since P − values ≤ α. Although, 5. At all levels of w, block 2 has the minimum value of d whereas in
the travel speed, s is not significant, it's P − values approaches. The two- block 3, the three levels of w have the same values of d. In addition,
way and the three-way interactions are insignificant since their P − the significant effect occurs in block 1 when w is increased to the
values are large, but some of them such as v ∗ s and v ∗ w ∗ s have signif- highest level.
icant contributions in the total and the model variations as shown in
Table 4. 4.2. Selecting best parameters' levels by pair-wise comparisons

4.1. Effects plots
The main and interactions effects are plotted in Figs. 4 and 5 respec-
tively. Arc voltage is a significant parameter as shown in the ANOVA
table. The main effect of v increases 55% from the lowest level to the
highest level and 40% form the medium to the highest level. This
Tukey test at confidence level of 90% is used to determine if two
levels of a certain parameter are significantly different. Table 5 illus-
trates the pairwise comparisons for all parameters in addition to blocks.
28-volt level is significantly different from the other two levels, whereas
the significant differences for both w and s parameters are between the
lowest and the highest levels.

Fig. 4. Main effects plot for input parameters.

82 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85

Fig. 5. Interactions' plot.

Table 5
Pairwise comparisons for v, w, s, and blocks.

v w s Blocks

26 27 28 85 107 130 1000 1200 1400 B1 B2 B3

26 x sig 85 x sig 1000 x sig B1 x sig
27 x sig 107 x 1200 x B2 x sig
28 x 130 x 1400 x B3 x

Table 6
Pairwise comparisons between (v,w) combinations of block 1.

(v, w) (26, 85) (26, 107) (26, 130) (27, 85) (27, 107) (27, 130) (28, 85) (28, 107) (28, 130)

(26, 85) x Sig sig

(26, 107) x Sig
(26, 130) x
(27, 85) x
(27, 107) x Sig
(27, 130) x
(28, 85) x
(28, 107) x
(28, 130) x

Table 7
Pairwise comparisons between (v,s) combinations of block 1.

(v, s) (26,1000) (26,1200) (26,1400) (27,1000) (27,1200) (27,1400) (28,1000) (28,1200) (28,1400)

(26,1000) x sig Sig

(26,1200) x
(26,1400) x
(27,1000) x
(27,1200) x sig
(27,1400) x
(28,1000) x
(28,1200) x
(28,1400) x
 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85 83

Table 8
Pairwise comparisons between (w,s) combinations of block 1.

(w, s) (85, 1000) (85, 1200) (85, 1400) (107,1000) (107,1200) (107,1400) (130,1000) (130,1200) (130,1400)

(85, 1000) x
(85, 1200) x
(85, 1400) x
(107,1000) x
(107,1200) x
(107,1400) x
(130,1000) x
(130,1200) x
(130,1400) x

Table 9
Pairwise comparisons between (v,w) combinations of block 2.

(v, w) (26, 85) (26, 107) (26, 130) (27, 85) (27, 107) (27, 130) (28, 85) (28, 107) (28, 130)

(26, 85) x sig sig

(26, 107) x sig sig sig sig
(26, 130) x sig sig sig sig
(27, 85) x sig sig
(27, 107) x
(27, 130) x
(28, 85) x
(28, 107) x
(28, 130) x

Tables 6–8 show comparisons between combinations that include
one level of a parameter and another level of a different parameter. In
Table 6, out of 36 comparisons, 4 comparisons show significance, and
therefore, d is significantly different for these combinations. On the
other hand, a combination such as (26,130) is not significantly different
from (27, 107), and consequently, the SAW operator can use either of
them without affecting d. Knowing which combinations are insignifi-
cantly different helps the manufacturer to select a combination that in-
crease productivity and save time, energy, and money.
Similarly, as shown in Table 7, combination (26, 1000) is significantly
different from combinations (28, 1000) and (28, 1200). Conversely, there
is no significant difference between combination (26, 1000) and
combinations (26, 1200), (26, 1400), (27, 1000), (27, 1400), and (28,
1400). For instance, instead of using (26, 1000), the SAW operator can
use (26, 1400) to increase productivity by increasing s without affecting
d.
There is no significant difference between any two (w, s) combina-
tions as shown in Table 8. (85, 1400) combination could be an attractive
choice to use for welding a section geometry that belongs to block 1.
By using this combination, productivity increases because of using the
highest travel speed, and material consumption and energy decrease
because of using the lowest wire feed speed. It is concluded that, for
section geometries lie in block 1, the best settings of parameters are
(26, 85, 1400), (27, 85, 1400), (27, 85, 1200). These three settings sets

Table 10
Pairwise comparisons between (v,s) combinations of block 2.

(v, s) (26,1000) (26,1200) (26,1400) (27,1000) (27,1200) (27,1400) (28,1000) (28,1200) (28,1400)

(26,1000) x sig Sig sig

(26,1200) x
(26,1400) x sig Sig sig
(27,1000) x
(27,1200) x
(27,1400) x
(28,1000) x
(28,1200) x
(28,1400) x

Table 11
Pairwise comparisons between (w,s) combinations of block 2.

(w, s) (85, 1000) (85, 1200) (85, 1400) (107,1000) (107,1200) (107,1400) (130,1000) (130,1200) (130,1400)

(85, 1000) x
(85, 1200) x sig
(85, 1400) x
(107,1000) x
(107,1200) x
(107,1400) x
(130,1000) x
(130,1200) x
(130,1400) x
84 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85

Table 12
Pairwise comparisons between (v,w) combinations of block 3.

(v, w) (26, 85) (26, 107) (26, 130) (27, 85) (27, 107) (27, 130) (28, 85) (28, 107) (28, 130)

(26, 85) x
(26, 107) x
(26, 130) x sig
(27, 85) x
(27, 107) x
(27, 130) x
(28, 85) x
(28, 107) x
(28, 130) x

Table 13
Pairwise comparisons between (v,s) combinations of block 3.

(v, s) (26,1000) (26,1200) (26,1400) (27,1000) (27,1200) (27,1400) (28,1000) (28,1200) (28,1400)

(26,1000) x
(26,1200) x
(26,1400) x
(27,1000) x
(27,1200) x
(27,1400) x
(28,1000) x
(28,1200) x
(28,1400) x

Table 14
Pairwise comparisons between (w,s) combinations of block 3.

(w, s) (85, 1000) (85, 1200) (85, 1400) (107,1000) (107,1200) (107,1400) (130,1000) (130,1200) (130,1400)

(w, s) x
(85, 1000) x
(85, 1200) x
(85, 1400) x
(107,1000) x
(107,1200) x
(107,1400) x
(130,1000) x
(130,1200) x

could minimize the bending distortion in addition of increasing produc- than 20% error are ignored. The 20% is used to compensate human and
tivity and decreasing material and energy consumption. The same ap- tool errors. (26, 85, 1400), (27, 85, 1400), and (27, 85, 1200) sets in
proach is applied to blocks 2 and 3 as illustrated in Tables 9–14. block 1, set (26, 85, 1400) in block 2, and set (27, 85, 1400) in block 3
In block 2, 26-volt level can be used with all levels of w, but it is sig- are the best parameters' settings that could run the SAW machine
nificantly different if it is compared to (27, 130). All (w, s) combinations effectively.
can interchangeably be used. Also, there is no difference if using 27 V in- Furthermore, to verify the modeled developed, three experiments
stead of 28 V. Consequently, some of the possible sets having the best are carried out using new parameters' levels as shown in Table 17. The
settings for block 2 are (26, 85, 1400), (26, 107, 1400), (27, 85, 1400), results show acceptable percentage errors.
and (27, 107, 1400).
(26, 85, 1400), (26, 107, 1400), (27, 85, 1400), (26, 107, 1400), (26, Table 15
85, 1200), and (27, 85, 1200) are some of the setting sets that can be Prediction of bending distortion.
effectively used for section geometries in block 3. Parameters' Settings Block d (mm) Absolute
The linear regression equation is d = − 74.3 + 2.83 ∙ v + 0.101 ∙ %Error
v (volt) w (in/min) s (mm/min) Actual Predicted
w − 0.00083 ∙ s. This equation is used to predict the bending distor-
tion based on the best parameters' setting sets as shown in Table 15. 26 85 1400 1 7 6.6 6.72
27 85 1400 1 10 9.2 8.83
Two sets have less than 10% error in block 1, whereas block 2 has one
27 85 1200 1 8 10 19.59
set has an error less than 10%. In block 3, there is only one set has 26 85 1400 2 6 6.6 8.52
error value less than 10%. Human errors, the way of taking measure- 26 107 1400 2 2 7.6 73.84
ments by traditional tools, and in addition that the measurements 27 85 1400 2 4 9.2 56.47
themselves are in small scale (mm) such that any small deviation can 27 107 1400 2 12 10.3 16.78
26 85 1400 3 11 6.6 67.71
make a jump in error value are some of possible reasons of having
26 107 1400 3 5 7.6 34.60
high errors values. For example, a deviation of 0.6 mm makes an error 27 85 1400 3 9 9.2 2.05
of 8.52% for set (26, 85, 1400). 26 107 1400 3 5 7.6 34.60
In Table 16, two observations of the setting sets that have less than 26 85 1200 3 9 7.3 22.96
27 85 1200 3 14 10 40.71
20% error are taken to verify the results, while other sets have larger
 M.T. Hayajneh et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 142 (2018) 78–85 85

Table 16
Verification experiment.

Parameters B Predicted Observations (Response (d) mm) Average Absolute % Error

L mm
v, volt w, in/min s, mm/min Actual mm % Error New 1 mm % Error New 2 mm % Error
O
C
K

26 85 1400 1 6.6 7 6.72 7 6.6 7 6.6 6.6

27 85 1400 1 9.2 10 8.83 9 8.83 11 19.7 12.45
27 85 1200 1 10 8 19.59 9 19.59 10 5.12 14.7
26 85 1400 2 6.6 6 8.52 8 21.9 7 8.52 12.98
27 107 1400 2 10.3 12 16.78 14 36.3 9 12.36 21.8
27 85 1400 3 9.2 9 2.05 10 2.05 11 19.7 7.9

5. Conclusions References

1. Arc voltage and wire feed speed are the most significant factors,
while travel speed shows less significance. Although there is no sig-
nificant interaction between any two parameters, some interactions
such as v ∗ s and v ∗ w ∗ s have significant contribution in the total
variability. They are considered when the best parameters' sets are
selected.
2. The relationship between arc voltage and travel speed is negative,
i.e. increasing arc voltage increases bending distortion at each level
of travel speed.
3. Increasing wire feed speed at the highest level of arc voltage
increases distortion to 15 mm while bending distortion remains
constant at the two lower levels. Also, changing travel speed to the
lowest level at the highest level of arc voltage causes a considerable
increase in distortion.
4. Although increasing travel speed to the highest level when using
the highest level of arc voltage decreases distortion, bending
distortion is still larger than when using a lower level of voltage
with a lower level of travel speed. Therefore, arc voltage is a
sensitive parameter, and it should be carefully adjusted by small
increments.
5. Several sets of parameters can be used to operate the SAW machine
to minimize distortion and maximize productivity. In block 1, (26 V,
85 in/min, 1400 mm/min), (27 V, 85 in/min, 1400 mm/min),
and (27 V, 85 in/min, 1200 mm/min) can be used. In blocks 2
and 3, (26 V, 85 in/min, 1400 mm/min) and (27 V, 85 in/min,
1400 mm/min) are respectively the only recommended sets.
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Table 17
Confirmation experiments of new parameters' levels

Parameters Pred.⁎ Observations (Response (d)) Average

Absolute

v, w, s, Actual 1 % Error Actual 2 % Error % Error

volt in/min mm/min

26.5 100 1400 9.6 10 4.2 12 25 14.6

25.5 110 1300 7.9 9 13.9 6 24 19
26 115 1250 9.9 12 21.2 11 11.1 16.2