A Wide-Span Roof and the Importance of Welding Residual Stresses and Distortsions

The work deals with the computational assessment of the load-bearing capacity of welded shell structures with formers (so-called monocoques). It presents a study of the influence of welding-induced residual stresses and distortions on the buckling behavior under static loading of a roof structure segment of the Porsche Pavilion in Wolfsburg, Germany. It demonstrates the application of an advanced computational approach that combines the calculation of welding-induced residual stresses and distortions with buckling analysis and puts into discussion the design-related aspects. The calculation of welding-induced residual stresses and deformations is divided into two sub-tasks—the analytical solution of the thermo-deformation problem and the numerical (finite element) calculation of the structural problem—which are strongly coupled. The calculated stress and displacement fields are then used as initial conditions for the numerical analysis of the component’s structural behavior under a design load. The results obtained are compared with those of a reference calculation on a model with perfect geometry in terms of structural displacements, stresses, and buckling behavior. The comparative analysis reveals qualitative discrepancies in the assessment of buckling behavior, emphasizing the importance of considering welding-induced residual displacements and stresses more accurately.