Hey All,

I've been asked to analyze the stresses in a weldment that contains flat bar that has been cold bent. There's obviously lots of residual stress at the bend point. But of course I don't know how much there is. I'm not incredibly familiar with the solidworks option of prescribed displacement. Would it be possible to take the flat bar and bend it in a non linear simulation with prescribed displacement? I would then add the UDL to the square HSS and see what the resulting stresses are in the radius. I think this is a fairly complicated simulation. I can't really think of a way to confirm the governing failure mechanism is either the weld connecting the HSS or the HSS itself instead of stresses in the formed flat bar.

Thoughtful insight is greatly appreciated.

-Aaron