Lecture 14 - Page 1 of 6

Lecture 14 Welded Connections

Welding is a procedure that involves fusing two pieces of steel together by
melting a sacrificial flux electrode to two pieces, thereby joining the
pieces permanently together. They have some distinct advantages over
bolted connections including:

Welded joints are more rigid than bolted joints
Can directly connect pieces without the need for connection plates
Welds do not create holes in member (i.e., no need to check
fracture on net area)
Can join odd-shaped pieces together

Welds also have some disadvantages which may preclude their use,
including:

Welds are brittle, not ductile like bolted connections
Very labor intensive
Skilled labor required
Quality control is difficult to inspect
Potential fire hazard in areas of welding

Fillet Welds:

The most common type of weld for structural steel connections is the
fillet weld. This type of weld joins 2 pieces with flat faces at 90
0
angles.

Some examples of fillet welds and their weld symbols are shown below:




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A closer inspection through the fillet weld itself is shown below to indicate
some of the dimensions of a weld:




The most common type of fillet welding process is Arc welding, or sometime
called stick welding. This process involves running an electric current through a
sacrificial electrode creating an arc of extremely high temperature that fuses the
steel pieces together. The electrode (stick) has a coating called a flux that,
when subject to heat, produces a cloud acting as a barrier to impurities in the air
entering the molten metal. A diagram of arc welding process is below:





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Some examples of other welds are shown below:



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Minimum & Maximum Size of Fillet Welds:

Below is a table relating the minimum size of fillet weld to the
thickness of material to be welded per AISC Table J 2.4 p. 16.1-96:

Material thickness of the
thicker part joined:
Minimum size of fillet weld:
Up to inclusive 1/8
Over to 3/16
Over to
Over 5/16

Maximum size of a fillet weld =See AISC p. 16.1-96 paragraph 2b
=Thickness of thinner part up to thick
=Thickness 1/16 over thick


Design SHEAR Strength of Fillet Welds:

From AISC p. 16.1-98

Weld available strength =R
n
LRFD Design Strength =R
n

=F
w
A
w
ASD Allowable strength =

n
R


where: =0.75 for shear from AISC Table J 2.5 p. 16.1-100
=2.00 for shear from AISC Table J 2.5 p. 16.1-100

F
w
=nominal strength of weld electrode, Table J 2.5
=0.60F
EXX


F
EXX
=weld electrode strength
=70 KSI for E70XX electrodes

A
w
=effective cross-sectional area of weld, in
2

=cos(45
0
) x (Weld Size) x (Weld Length)

Lecture 14 - Page 6 of 6
Example (LRFD)
GIVEN: Two thick A36 steel plates fillet welded as shown below. Use
E70XX weld electrodes.
REQUIRED: Determine the maximum factored load, P
u
, that can be
applied based on shear strength of the welds.
















Step 1 Determine total length of fillet welds:

Total length =2(4)
=8

Step 2 Determine design shear strength of welds:

Weld design strength =R
n


where: =0.75 for shear from AISC Table J 2.5

R
n
=F
w
A
w


F
w
=nominal strength of weld electrode
=0.60F
EXX


F
EXX
=weld electrode strength, Table 8-3 p. 8-65
=70 KSI for E70XX electrodes

A
w
=effective cross-sectional area of weld, in
2

=cos(45
0
) x (Weld Size) x (Weld Length)

Weld design strength =0.75(0.60(70 KSI))(cos(45
0
)(3/16)(8))

Weld design strength = P
u
= 33.4 KIPS
4 3/16
P
u