The welding-induced initial imperfections such as residual stresses and initial strains in plated structures of ships and offshore structures can be effectively evaluated by the thermal elasto-plastic analysis method proposed in this paper. In the analysis of heat conduction of plate structures, both the analytical method and the numerical method are used. For the thermal elasto-plastic analysis of plates, the finite element analysis is performed, based on the initial strain method. In the plastic domain during incremental process, the 2nd order terms of stress increments and yield stress increments were considered, so that time increment could be controlled for more stable solution. To measure temperature distribution and angular distortion of plates during welding, bead-on-plate experiment are perform with various heat input and plate thickness. Measured data show good agreement with the calculated results.