Numerical simulation and experimental verification of the restraint intensity of pipeline girth welding joint

The restraint intensity（RI） of the pipeline girth welding joint was investigated using finite element method and experimental method to predict the cold cracking susceptibility of pipeline steel.The distribution of RI along the girth weld was investigated to study the influence of welding position on the RI.Subsequently,the effects of outer diameter（OD） and wall thickness of pipeline on the RI were studied with ABAQUS software.The results show that the RI is almost independent of welding position.The RI increased with the increasing wall thickness but decreased with the increasing OD.A prediction model of RI was developed based on the effects of the OD and the wall thickness.It has been found that the predicted RIs were in good agreement with the experimental values.The maximum fractional error between the predicted RI and the experimental values was just about 10%.It was indicated that the errors were mainly caused by the heterogeneous of the weld bead.