Course syllabus

TRA510 Weld design for sustainability, SP 3-4 spring 2026 (2.5 HEC)

Course design

The course is offered within the Tracks initative, and is part of CIRCUMET, Advanced School on Circular Metal Components for the Swedish Manufacturing Industry funded by KK-foundation. The aim of CIRCUMET is to develop 80-90 credit courses at an advanced level on the topic of climate action for the metal component manufacturing industry.

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Contact details

Examiner: Johan Ahlström, Chalmers, johan.ahlstrom@chalmers.se

Lecturers:

Guest lecturers:  

 

Course purpose

The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to design sustainable welded components and structures by integrating technical competence, international standards, and sustainability considerations. You will learn to apply principles of weld design, evaluate materials and processes, and make design choices that ensure quality, durability, and resource efficiency. In addition, the course builds a fundamental understanding of welding processes, their physics, and the most common non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. Incorporating sustainability and circularity, students will gain the analytical skills to make informed decisions in weld design and quality assurance.

Schedule

The course is scheduled during week 10 to week 16, with 6-8 synchronous occasions; preliminary times and subjects below:

Day 1 Monday 2 March 8:30-16:30, in person at Chalmers, Tracks room SB3-S37 with a common lunch.

  • 8:30-9:00 Gathering and Coffee
  • 9:00-10:00 Intro and brief overview of welding processes (Johan)
  • 10:00-12:00 Joining in car industry: Per Lindahl: Volvo Cars
  • 12:00-13:00 Lunch
  • 13:00-15:00 Quality requirements for welding (ISO 3834) (Ebrahim)
  • Competencies needed for a welding engineer (ISO 14731) (Ebrahim)
  • 15:00-15:30 Coffee 
  • 15:30-16:30 Overview of welding of steels (Ebrahim)

Day 2 Monday 9 March (Teams): 9:00–12:00, (Ebrahim and Majid)

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/33823017729663?p=oKbz3ZrkmbTZFIDWN2

Meeting ID: 338 230 177 296 63

Passcode: oy3QH6y8

  1. Weld design considerations
  2. Welding symbols
  3. Joint preparation
  4. Weld design under static loading
  5. Weld design under fatigue loading

Day 2 Monday 9 March: 13:00–16:00, (Majid and Ebrahim)

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/35385558113090?p=B9cqbSY6L78HJOd3Uw

Meeting ID: 353 855 581 130 90

Passcode: Cc37hK68

Continued schedule from the morning session

 

Day 3 Monday 16 March: 13:00–16:00, online

  1. Weld simulation: Björn
  2. Standards, complement : Ebrahim
  3. Problem solving : Ebrahim

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/33430419551293?p=2stS6bVoMVnoLUqY5I

Meeting ID: 334 304 195 512 93

Passcode: uJ6cQ2Pp

 

Day 4 Monday 23 March: 9:00–12:00, in person at Chalmers, Tracks room SB3-S37 

  1. Guest lecture: Jonathan Ekdahl, GKN
  2. Guest lecture: Björn Andersson, Chalmers
  3. Complement and Case study (Johan)

 

Day 5 Thursday 26 March 8:00-12 (At ESAB, Lindholmsallén 9)

Study visit to ESAB, arranged by Björn Dahlborg and colleagues. Modern welding techniques and Practical welding

Public transport options, see https://www.vasttrafik.se/en/travel-planning/travel-planner/

ESAB, Lindholmsallén 9. In Västtrafik, enter Lindholmen or Pumpgatan.*

*Note: ESAB is very close to the tallest building in Göteborg, “Karlatornet”. The tower has 19 m high, welded steel nodes inside to link the enforcement bars and wires. Source: https://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/sa-hindrar-utriggarna-karlatornet-fran-kollaps/1180383 <2026-03-12>

Day 6 Monday 13 April (On-site, computer lab SB-D020): 9:15–12:00,  (Karthik)

Computer lab sessions with ANSYS (static and fatigue loading, distortion, etc.)

 

Day 7 Wednesday 15 April  

Individual booking of oral examinations (online, JA).

 

Activities to be done in between classes will be communicated along the way.

The TimeEdit schedule only includes on-site sessions, see above for other occasions.

Course literature

Welding processes:
Welding Processes Handbook (2nd Edition) - Klas Weman, Woodhead Publishing, 2012
https://app.knovel.com/kn/resources/kpWPHE0001/toc

Welding metallurgy and defects:
Welding Metallurgy and Weldability, John C. Lippold, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2015
https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118960332

Complemented with handouts and links during the course.

Learning objectives

  • Compare common welding processes and materials, focusing on weldability, efficiency, and sustainability.
  • Understand the basic theory of structural systems and strength of materials relevant to weld design.
  • Classify welds and interpret welding drawings for different joint and weld types.
  • Outline weld simulation and how welding affects materials, including internal stresses and their impact on mechanical properties.
  • Describe common non destructive testing (NDT) methods for finding weld defects.
  • Propose suitable construction and weld design choices under different loading conditions whilst considering quality requirements, durability, and sustainability.

 

Link to the formal syllabus on Studieportalen (same information to large extent):

https://www.chalmers.se/en/education/your-studies/find-course-and-programme-syllabi/course-syllabus/TRA510/?acYear=2026/2027

 

Examination

Active participation in lectures

Project assignments to practice engineering application and enable judgement of learning outcomes in project format.

Brief oral examination to ensure basic learning outcomes are fulfilled for each student. If you are a Chalmers student and aim for a higher grade, please inform me and we will discuss the levels required before the examination.