Effect of PWHT with Sheet-Type Ceramic Heater on Compressive Behaviors of Non-Stiffened Welded Steel Box Columns

Abstract

A series of fundamental experimental investigation was conducted in order to examine the effect of PWHT by sheet-type ceramic heater on the residual stress, deformation and compressive behavior of non-stiffened welded box columns. The sheet-type ceramic heater was able to control the required temperature history for PWHT with high accuracy. The welding-induced tensile and compressive residual stresses of the specimens were reduced by 90% and 76% respectively with PWHT. Besides, PWHT could reduce the welding-induced out-of-plane deformation by 22%. It was revealed that the PWHT specimens had a slight higher stiffness than the As-welded specimens when applying monotonic static compressive load on both As-welded and PWHT specimens. They could also enhance the ultimate compressive load capacity about 32% of that of the As-welded specimens. The effectiveness of PWHT with the sheet-type ceramic heater could be confirmed.