ABSTRACT
Welding of thin-plate ship structures often results in warping of finished fabricated
panels. Some manufacturers use preheating and/or pre-stressing the plates during
assembly or post heating after assembly as a mitigation method to reduce final product
distortion with variably satisfactory results. The current paper aims to study the effect of
tensile force application (on the plates undergoing welding) on the residual stresses
and distortion behaviours of butt welded thin ship panels using the finite element
method. The effects on the butt welded thin panel applying several components of
different magnitudes of tensile forces before and during welding are shown. Those
external forces are released after the welded joint has reached the room temperature.
The stretching force leads to a reduction in the longitudinal residual stresses,
consequently reduced the buckling deformation. All those diagnostics will demolish the
welded plate distortion making it close to zero.