Les métaux déposés base nickel sont utilisés pour assembler des composants du circuit primaire des centrales nucléaires à Réacteurs à Eau sous Pression (REP). Un nombre croissant de cas de fissuration par Corrosion Sous Contrainte (CSC) des soudures en alliages base nickel 182 et 82 est rapporté dans le retour d'expérience international ce qui motive le développement d'un modèle permettant de prévoir la fissuration par CSC de ces matériaux. Ce mécanisme de dégradation fait intervenir des paramètres matériaux, mécaniques ou environnementaux qui peuvent interagir entre eux. L'objectif de cette étude est de mieux comprendre les mécanismes physiques locaux (aux joints de grains) impliqués dans l'amorçage de fissures de CSC. Un essai de traction sur une éprouvette en alliage 182 préalablement oxydée en milieu primaire simulé a mis en évidence une dispersion de la sensibilité à l'oxydation des différents joints de grains. L'analyse couplée entre oxydation et fissuration a permis, à l'aide de calculs de micro-mécanique sur un agrégat polycristallin synthétique, de proposer un critère de rupture des joints de grains oxydés défini par un couple profondeur d'oxydation/ contrainte locale critique. Compte tenu du rôle clé que tient l'oxydation intergranulaire dans le mécanisme de fissuration par CSC et de la dispersion observée entre les différents joints de grains, une cinétique d'oxydation intergranulaire des alliages base nickel 182 et 82 a été identifiée prenant en compte la précipitation de carbures de chrome, la température ou encore la teneur en hydrogène dissous. Ce modèle cinétique permet d'aborder statistiquement l'oxydation des joints de grains et est intégré à un modèle d'amorçage local. Dans ce dernier l'amorçage, défini par la fissuration de l'oxyde intergranulaire est suivi d'une phase de propagation lente puis rapide jusqu'à une certaine profondeur de fissure. Des hypothèses simplificatrices ont été faites lors de l'identification des lois embarquées dans le modèle de CSC. Toutefois, celles-ci s'avèreront utiles pour cibler les conditions des futurs essais à mener afin de conforter l'identification des différents paramètres. / Nickel base welds are widely used to assemble components of the primary circuit of Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) plants. International experience shows an increasing number of Stress Corrosion Cracks (SCC) in nickel base welds 182 and 82 which motivates the development of models predicting the time to SCC initiation for these materials. SCC involves several parameters such as materials, mechanics or environment interacting together. The goal of this study is to have a better understanding of the physical mechanisms occurring at grains boundaries involved in SCC. In-situ tensile test carried out on oxidized alloy 182 evidenced dispersion in the susceptibility to corrosion of grain boundaries. Moreover, the correlation between oxidation and cracking coupled with micro-mechanical simulations on synthetic polycrystalline aggregate, allowed to propose a cracking criterion of oxidized grain boundaries which is defined by both critical oxidation depth and local stress level. Due to the key role of intergranular oxidation in SCC and since significant dispersion is observed between grain boundaries, oxidation tests were performed on alloys 182 and 82 in order to model the intergranular oxidation kinetics as a function of chromium carbides precipitation, temperature and dissolved hydrogen content. The model allows statistical analyses and is embedded in a local initiation model. In this model, SCC initiation is defined by the cracking of the intergranular oxide and is followed by slow and fast crack growth until the crack depth reaches a given value. Simplifying assumptions were necessary to identify laws used in the SCC model. However, these laws will be useful to determine experimental conditions of future investigations carried out to improve the calibration used parameters.

Le procédé de soudage TIG est actuellement le plus utilisé dans l’industrie aéronautique du fait de la qualité des joints de soudure qu’il permet d’obtenir et de sa simplicité d’automatisation. Une opération de soudage provoque des gradients thermiques dus au passage de la source de chaleur sur la pièce qui induisent des déformations et des contraintes résiduelles pouvant impacter la durée de vie de l’assemblage. Ce travail vise à mettre en place un modèle de simulation de ce procédé dans le but d’optimiser les paramètres opératoires.Avant d’envisager un couplage thermomécanique, il convient de représenter convenablement les transferts thermiques au cours du soudage et en particulier l’apport de chaleur lié au procédé. Dans cette étude, on propose une source de chaleur prédictive simplifiée représentative des paramètres opératoires qui permet en particulier d’estimer les dimensions caractéristiques du cordon de soudure et de traduire fidèlement l’évolution thermique dans la pièce. Cette source est définie par un flux de chaleur homogène dépendant d’une puissance P, réparti sur un disque de rayon R, ces 2 paramètres numériques étant liés aux principaux paramètres opératoires de soudage que sont l’intensité I et la hauteur d’arc h.Une campagne d’essais expérimentaux dans laquelle on étudie les variations des dimensions de la Zone Fondue (ZF) pour des cas non pénétrants et pénétrants en fonction des paramètres opératoires (I, h) est présentée. Pour chaque essai, un couple de paramètres d’entrée de la source de chaleur (P, R) permettant de reproduire les dimensions du bain fondu est identifié. La confrontation des résultats obtenus numériquement et expérimentalement permet de mettre en place des relations entre les paramètres opératoires de soudage (I, h) et les paramètres numériques (P, R) conférant un caractère prédictif à la source de chaleur. Ce modèle de source a été validé pour différentes configurations de soudage en termes d’épaisseurs de tôles, de matériaux à assembler, de vitesses d’avance de la torche, ...Notre modèle thermique a ensuite servi de base pour la simulation thermomécanique du procédé. Le modèle est appliqué à l’assemblage de deux composants d’un turbomoteur en superalliage base Nickel. / Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) is the most widely used welding process in aeronautics, due to its weld quality. During a welding operation, the thermal source induces thermal gradients causing strains and stresses that could affect assembly’s life duration. The aim of this study is to develop a numerical model of the welding process in order to get optimized process parameters.Before coupling thermal and mechanical phenomena, we must modelize heat transfers during welding. We propose a simplified heat source linked to the process parameters which enables to predict the main dimensions of the weld pool and the thermal evolution in the solid part. This source is defined by an homogeneous heat flux depending on a power P distributed in a R radius disk. These two parameters relate to process parameters, the arc height (h) and the current intensity I.Experiment tests was achieved to study the weld pool dimensions for both cases : incomplete penetration and full penetration weld. For each test, we identified the heat source parameters (P, R) which allow to obtain the experimental weld pool dimensions. The confrontation of numerical and experimental results enables to get links between the heat source parameters (P, R) and the welding parameters (I, h), producing a predictive heat source. The heat source reliability was verified taking into account several welding configurations with various superalloys sheet thickness, welding speed, materials.A coupled thermal-mechanical analysis, based on our thermal model, was applied to an industrial case: a nickel based superalloy components assembly of a gas turbine.

The level of residual stresses in welded components is known to have a significant influence on their failure behaviour. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the combined effect of mechanical loading and residual stresses on the ductile fracture behaviour of these structures in order to provide the accurate structural safety assessment. Recently, STYLE (Structural integrity for lifetime management-non-RPV component) performed a large scale bending test on a welded steel pipe containing a circumferential through-thickness crack (the MU2 test). The purpose of this test is to study the impact of high magnitude weld residual stresses on the initiation and growth of cracks in austenitic stainless steels. This research presents the simulation part of the STYLE project which aims to develop the finite element model of MU2 test in ABAQUS to enhance the understanding and ability to predict the combined influence of mechanical loading and residual stresses on the ductile fracture behaviour of nuclear pressure vessel steels. This research employs both fracture mechanics principles (global approach) and Rousselier damage model (local approach) to study this behaviour including crack initiation and growth. In this research, the Rousselier model was implemented into ABAQUS via the user defined subroutines for ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit modules, i.e. UMAT and VUMAT. The subroutines were developed based on the integration algorithm proposed by Aravas and Zhang. The validation of these subroutines was checked by comparing the FE results obtained from the implementation of these subroutines with the analytical and other benchmark solutions. This process showed that UMAT and VUMAT provide accurate results. However, the UMAT developed in this work shows convergence problems when the elements start to fail. Hence, only VUMAT was used in the construction of the finite element model of the MU2 test. As mentioned above, the results obtained from both fracture mechanics approach and Rousselier model are compared with the experimental data to validate the accuracy of the model. The results shows that both fracture mechanics approach and the Rousselier model predict similar final crack shapes which correspond closely to the test results in south direction. The other conclusions about the influence of residual stress on ductile fracture obtained from this work are also summarized in this thesis.

In recent years a strong interest has been expressed to produce lighter structures.One possible solution to reduce the weight is to utilize high strength steels and use welding as the joining method. Many components experience fatigue loadingduring all or part of their life time and welded connections are often the prime location of fatigue failure. This becomes more critical in welded high strength steels as fatigue strength of welds does not increase by increasing the steel strength. A possible solution to overcome this issue is to use fatigue improvement methods.The main objectives of this project are, therefore, to increase understanding of the factors that control fatigue life and to investigate how the fatigue strength improvement methods; high frequency mechanical impact (HFMI) treatment and use of Low Transformation Temperature (LTT) consumables will affect fatigue properties of welds in high strength steels. In this regard, Gas Metal Arc Welding(GMAW) was used to produce butt and fillet welds using LTT or conventional fillers in steels with yield strengths ranging from 650-1021 MPa and T-joint weldsin a steel with 1300 MPa yield strength. The effect of HFMI on fatigue strength of the welds in 1300 MPa yield strength steels was also investigated. Butt and fillet welds in 650-1021 MPa steels were fatigue tested under constant amplitude tensile loading with a stress ratio of 0.1 while T-joints were fatigue tested under constant amplitude fully reversed bending load with a stress ratio of -1. The nominal stress approach was used for fatigue strength evaluation of butt and fillet welds whereas the effective notch stress approach was used in case of T-joints. Relative effectsof the main parameters such as residual stress and weld toe geometry influencing fatigue strength of welds were evaluated. Residual stresses were measured using X-ray diffraction for as-welded and HFMI treated welds. Neutron diffraction was additionally used to investigate the near surface residual stress distribution in 1300 MPa LTT welds.Results showed that use of LTT consumables increased fatigue strength of welds in steels with yield strengths ranging from 650-1021 MPa. For butt welds, the vii characteristic fatigue strength (FAT) of LTT welds at 2 million cycles was up to46% higher when compared to corresponding welds made with conventional fillermaterials. In fillet welds, a maximum improvement of 132% was achieved when using LTT wires. The increase in fatigue strength was attributed to the lower tensile residual stresses or even compressive stresses produced close to the weldtoe in LTT welds. Weld metals with martensite transformation start temperatures around 200 °C produced the highest fatigue strength. In 1300 MPa yield strength steel, similar FAT of 287 MPa was observed for LTT welds and 306 MPa for conventional welds, both much higher than the IIW FATvalue of 225 MPa. The relative transformation temperatures of the base and weldmetals, specimen geometry and loading type are possible reasons why the fatigue strength was not improved by use of LTT wires. Neutron diffraction showed that the LTT consumable was capable of inducing near surface compressive residual stresses in all directions at the weld toe. It was additionally found that there arevery steep stress gradients both transverse to the weld toe line and in the depth direction, at the weld toe. Due to difficulties to accurately measure residual stresses locally at the weld toe most often in the literature and recommendations residual stresses a few millimetre away from the weld toe are related to fatigue properties. However, this research shows that caution must be used when relating these to fatigue strength, in particular for LTT welds, as stress in the base materiala few millimetre from the weld toe can be very different from the stress locally at the weld toe.HFMI increased the mean fatigue strength of conventional welds in 1300 MPa steels about 26% and of LTT welds by 13%. It increased the weld toe radius slightly but produced a more uniform geometry along the treated weld toes. Large compressive residual stresses, especially in the longitudinal direction, were introduced adjacent to the weld toe for both LTT and conventional treated welds. It was concluded that the increase in fatigue strength by HFMI treatment is due to the combined effect of weld toe geometry modification, increase in surface hardness and introduction of compressive residual stresses in the treated region.It was concluded that the residual stress has a relatively larger influence than the weld toe geometry on fatigue strength of welds. This is based on the observation that a moderate decrease in residual stress of about 15% at the 300 MPa stress level had the same effect on fatigue strength as increasing the weld toe radius by approximately 85% from 1.4 mm to 2.6 mm, in fillet welds. Also, a higher fatigue strength was observed for HFMI treated conventional welds compared to as welded samples having similar weld toe radii but with different residual stresses.

Wind power, especially offshore, is considered to be one of the most promising sources of ‘clean’ energy towards meeting the EU targets for 2020 and 2050. However, its popularity has always fluctuated with the price of fossil fuels since nowadays wind electricity production cannot compete with nuclear or coal electricity production. Support structures are thought to be one of the main drivers for reducing costs in order to make the wind industry more economically efficient. Foundations and towers should be fit for purpose, extending their effective service life but avoiding costs of oversizing. An exhaustive review of the background and state of the art of the Fatigue-Life assessment approaches has been carried out, combining analysis of the gathered experimental data and the development of Finite Element models based on contemporary 3D solid models with diverse Regression Analyses, in order to identify their weakness and evaluate their accuracy. This research shows that the guides and practices currently employed in the design and during the operation of the offshore wind turbine support structures are obsolete and not useful for optimisation, which generally leads to conservationism and an unnecessary increase in costs. The basis for a comprehensive update of the Girth Weld and Tubular Joint S-N curves and the Stress Concentration Factors of Tubular Joints has been set out. Furthermore, a reliable methodology for deriving the Stress Intensity Factor at the deepest point of a semi-elliptical surface saddle crack in a tubular welded T-joint has been proposed.

Malgré plusieurs décennies d'études expérimentales et numériques sur la tenue en fatigue d'assemblages soudés, cette problématique demeure une préoccupation principale de l'industrie automobile. En effet, de nombreux composants aux géométries complexes (e.g. berceaux) sont obtenus à partir de pièces soudées et constituent des éléments de sécurité pour lesquels aucune défaillance ne peut être acceptée. Malgré les progrès en modélisation numérique, des essais sont toujours nécessaires afin de fournir des données sur éprouvettes « simples » afin d'alimenter les modèles numériques, mais aussi de démontrer le bon dimensionnement des structures. Les procédures classiques d'essais de fatigue sont coûteuses en temps et nécessitent la destruction de plusieurs pièces. La méthode dite d'auto-échauffement permet de réduire significativement le temps d'essai et propose une approche non destructive. Cette méthode consiste à mesurer l'évolution de température en surface de la structure étudiée au cours du chargement cyclique. Cette approche permet de tirer avantage du signal thermique macroscopique afin de mettre en évidence la micro-plasticité responsable de la rupture par fatigue. Les objectifs du travail présenté sont de déterminer si un lien peut être réalisé entre les mesures de température et la tenue en fatigue d'assemblages soudés, puis d'étudier l'influence de paramètres sur la tenue en fatigue grâce à la méthode proposée. Un protocole expérimental est d'abord proposé afin de mesurer l'évolution de température des mini-structures soudées sous sollicitation cyclique. Une première analyse de la réponse thermique de simples tôles d'acier sous chargement cyclique de faible amplitude est proposée afin de valider un modèle déterministe de champ de source à la fois pour des sollicitations de traction et de flexion. Ces essais permettent par la suite de décrire correctement le comportement thermique de la matière de base des éprouvettes soudées hors du cordon de soudure. Le modèle est alors étendu à l'étude d'éprouvettes soudées, avec la prise en compte de la dissipation de la zone soudée. Une fois le champ de source identifié à partir du modèle, son évolution en fonction de l'amplitude du chargement appliqué mène à une courbe d'auto-échauffement. L'analyse de cette courbe permet une bonne estimation de la limite en fatigue de l'éprouvette soudée après seulement quelques heures d'essais. La méthode est alors appliquée à d'autres configurations de mini-structures soudées afin d'étudier l'influence du grenaillage et d'un gradient de contrainte en zone critique sur la tenue en fatigue. Finalement, la procédure d'essai est appliquée afin de déterminer la tenue en fatigue d'une pièce industrielle, un triangle de suspension mécano-soudé. À cause des mauvaises conditions aux limites thermiques sur une telle structure, une autre méthode est proposée afin de déduire une première estimation du champ de source sur toute la surface observée à partir des mesures thermiques. Cette estimation mène à l'identification de la zone critique en fatigue de la structure et à une première bonne estimation de sa limite en fatigue. / Fatigue design of weld assemblies still remains of prior concern in the automotive industry, despite several decades of experimental, theoretical and numerical body of work. Actually, many complex components (e.g. front and rear axles) are embedded thanks to welding process. Such welded assemblies are expected to be designed as high-safety parts, for which any fatigue failure is supposed to be prevented. Despite numerical modelling is more and more effective, experimental tests are still necessary in order to provide basic design data and at last to prove the design reliability. Standard fatigue tests procedures are sensibly time consuming, are usually destructive and need for several specimens in order to manage reliable results. Conversely, the so-called self-heating tests offer the opportunity to dramatically shorten the test duration and save specimens because it is a non-destructive method. It consists in measuring the temperature evolution of the structure surface during cyclic loading. Such an approach allows to take advantage of the macroscopic thermal signature of microscopic plasticity processes responsible for fatigue damage. The purpose of the present work is the determination of a correlation between thermal measurement and fatigue properties of welded structures, and then studying the influence of parameters on fatigue properties with the developed method. An experimental protocol is first proposed to measure the temperature of the tested specimen under cyclic loading. A first analysis of the thermal response of standard steel sheet specimen under low load amplitude is proposed in order to validate a deterministic heat source model for both tensile and bending tests. These tests allow us to correctly describe the thermal behavior of the base material of welded specimen away from the joint. Then, the model is extended to welded specimen in order to take into account the dissipation of the welded area. Once the dissipative heat source is identified thanks to the model, its evolution with the applied loading leads to a self-heating curve allowing an estimation of the fatigue limit of the welded specimen after only few hours of test. The method is then applied to other configurations of welded specimens in order to study the effects of shot peening and stress gradient on fatigue properties. Finally, the testing procedure is applied for the determination of an industrial component fatigue properties, a welded car wishbone. Due to the bad heat boundary condition, another analysis is proposed to estimate the heat source along the entire component. This estimation leads to the determination of the weakest area of the structure concerned by fatigue and a first good estimation of its fatigue limit.

The objective of this thesis is to determine if the single sided resistance spot weld (RSW) can be used as a feasible connection method for cold formed steel (CFS) shear walls subject to lateral force of either seismic or wind loads on mobile shelters. The research consisted of three phases which include: a design as a 3D BIM model, connection tests of the resistance spot weld, and full-scale testing of the designed solid wall panels. The shear wall testing was conducted on specimens with both resistance spot weld and self-drilling screws and the results from tests gave a direct comparison of these connections when the solid wall panel was subjected to in-plane shear forces. The full-scale tests also included 4-point bending tests which was designed to investigate the wall panel's resistance to the lateral loads applied perpendicularly to the surface. The research discovered that the singled sided resistance spot weld achieved similar performance as the self-drilling screws in the applications of CFS wall panels for mobile shelters. The proposed single sided resistance spot weld has advantages of low cost, no added weight, fast fabrication, and it is a feasible connection method for CFS wall panels.

The subject of this diploma thesis is determination of the cause of crack formation at the carriage Top drive for MND Drilling & Services company. The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyze the load states of the component. Furthermore, the aim is to create a computational model and boundary conditions and to create suggestions of improvements leading to the elimination of cracks. And finally, to evaluate the results of construction improvements..

Aim of this work is description of design and manufacturing by welding technology of adjustable runner blades circle of Kaplan turbine. For designing and its subsequent strength control using the finite element method were performed with using static analysis in the program SolidWorks ® 2013. Material of adjustable runner blades circle's parts was designed S 355 J2 G3, which is able to withstand a given load. In the design of technology of welding there was elected MAG-welding method, with the active gas mixture Ar +18% CO2. Additive material for welding will be OK Autrod 12.51, like it‘s marked by ESAB s.r.o. For each weld is necessary to create the welding edge, which is made on computer controlled machining machines. In the production we require strict adherence to the prescribed workflow and compliance with WPS protocol. After welding and machining of adjustable runner blades circle we will make weld test, visual examination, dye penetrant and ultrasonic examination.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to compare mechanical properties of welded joints on tubes from 32x2 mm. Tubes are made from 25CrMo4 steel, which is used for production of racing kart chassis. The steel has a tensile strength of Rm = 800 MPa and up to 1200 MPa after refinement. For welding of samples are used technologies MAG and TIG.