This paper presents a method of predicting residual stress distribution in a circular plate of mild steel from the heat input conditions and size of the plate when subjected the axial symmetric heat input. The important parameters of residual stress distribution were derived by use of theories of heat flow and thermo-elastoplastic analysis. The relationship between the parameters and the residual stress distribution was obtained by a program based on the finite difference method which had been confirmed by the experimental results. The figure representing this relashionship gives the residual stress distribution simply from the information about heat input and plate size.
