Experimental and numerical investigation of residual stresses in proximity girth welds

International fabrication codes and standards provide minimum distance criteria for proximity welds, although rigorous justification is lacking. These distances are either based on practical experience or mutual agreement and are often left to the engineering judgment of contractors, inspection engineers, etc., especially in cases of repair welds fabricated in proximity to existing welds. Previous studies have shown high tensile residual stresses and altered mechanical and microstructural properties between proximity welds. This article focuses on numerical and experimental quantification of residual stresses in the proximity region by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and finite element method (FEM) thermo-mechanical models. Specimens were machine welded, then repair welded at distances of 5–15 mm. A fair agreement in results was achieved between FEM and XRD. The most detrimental effect was observed at the weld root toe for the repair weld at 5 mm proximity, likely due to the high constraint and multiaxial stress state. These findings enable practitioners to propose technical justification and corrective actions while specifying minimum distance criteria for proximity welds.