Numerical Simulation of Local Post Weld Heat Treatment by Electric Heating Method of Pressure Equipment

The local post weld heat treatment by electric heating method is widely used to eliminate welding residual stress in processes of manufacture and maintenance of pressure equipment. The key point of local post weld heat treatment is to choose a reasonable heated band width and insulated band width. But the criterions to determine the minimum heated band width and insulated band width are different according to Chinese, European and American standards, which are GB/T 30583-2014, EN 13445-4: 2009 and AWS D10.10/D10.10M :1999, respectively. Taking the local post weld heat treatment for the circumferential butt weld between two thick cylinders both with a 115 mm thickness as an example, numerical simulation is used to compare the wall temperature distribution of the cylinders during the heat preservation stage when the heated band width and insulated band width are chose according to the above three standards, and the numerical simulation was verified by the tested temperature from one field experiment. The results show that the numerical calculation method can accurately predict the wall temperature of the cylinders during the local heat treatment, and the wall temperature of the surfaces on which the heaters are arranged according to the three standards all well meets the requirement of the heat treatment, but the wall temperature of the surfaces without the heaters cannot meet the temperature requirement. So double-side heating and double-side insulating are suggested to be adopted during local post weld heat treatment.