Effect of welding residual stress on natural frequencies using experimental and numerical analysis

The manufacturing processes mostly generate residual stresses in structures. Welding as well, can cause these types of stresses which can be useful or detrimental in different cases. Expensive and time-consuming tests should be conducted to measure residual stresses, however, modal testing is widely available providing results conveniently and quickly. In cases in which the qualitative changes in stress is required, experimental modal testing is a suitable substitute for residual stress measurement processes. In this paper, experimental modal analysis have been conducted on an aluminum specimen, also the same procedure has been done on welded specimens. Natural frequencies are compared before and after the welding along with verification of experimental modal analysis integrity using Euler-Bernoulli relations. In addition to experimental modal analysis, finite element modeling of welding process has been done comparing the numerical and experimental results. The results obtained from the investigation have shown that welding made the structure harder leading to elevation of its natural frequencies. This increase in frequencies are associated with residual stresses generated in welding process. By comparing natural frequencies of the specimens, a quantitative relation can be drawn between the residual stress caused by welding and changes of natural frequencies.