Abstract: Objective The aim of this paper was to study variation of welding temperature field and residual stress distribution of corrugated web girders. Methods Through numerical simulation and experimental research, welding residual stress of corrugated steel web girders in practical engineering was estimated and analyzed. A three-dimensional thermal elastic-plastic finite element model was established. Dflux subroutine was compiled by Fortran language to define welding path and heat source model. Welding temperature field and stress field of corrugated web girders were obtained by sequential coupling method. The final result of stress field, namely distribution of welding residual stress, was analyzed and finally compared with test results of residual stress. Results The results showed that trend of welding residual stress of the model was close to experimental test, which proved the correctness of numerical simulation method used in welding. Conclusion Welding residual stress of corrugated web girders near weld was close to yield strength. Residual stress of the upper and lower flanges varied in size and distribution due to different thickness under the same heat input.