WELDED CONNECTIONS

- Welding is the process of connecting elements together by heating their surfaces

to a plastic or fluid state.

- Arc welding uses electrical energy in a form of electric arc to generate the heat for
welding. Additional metal called welding rod is used as electrode that generates the
heat needed for welding.

- Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) and Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) are used
to prevent molten steel from the surrounding air during cooling since this will make
the steel porous and brittle.

- SAW provides deeper weld penetration, good ductility and corrosion resistance than
SMAW
- Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) – the electrode is a continuous wire . Sheilding is from
an externally supplied gas like CO2 .

- Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) - similar to GMAW except that the filler material is
tubular and contains the flux material within the core.

Advantages of Welding:

1. Fewer pieces used. Gusset and splice plates maybe elimimated.

2. Easier than bolting
3. Provides truly rigid joints

Disadvantages:
1. Need for careful execution and supervision.

Forms of Welded Joints;

1. Lap
2. Butt
3. Tee
Lap joints:

single fillet lap joint double fillet lap joint

Butt joints:
square groove single –vee groove

double-vee groove single-U groove

Tee Joints:

square tee joint single bevel groove joint

double bevel groove joint

Types of welds:

1. Fillet - for lap or tee joints

2. Groove - for butt and tee joints . Partial penetration or full penetration
3. Plug/slot - are used when the area for welding is not sufficient to develop the
strength of the connection against the applied force.

A) Fillet welds: throat ,t

w
throat t = 0.707w for equal legs

wh for unequal legs w

=
w2 + h2

throat ,t
h

w
Effective Area of Fillet Welds:

1. Equals effective length times effective throat thickness

2. Effective length = overall length of full-size fillets, including returns.
Minimum effective length = 4 x nominal weld size

3. Effective throat thickness

For SMAW, FCAW, GMAW:

t = 0.707w for equal legs

wh for unequal legs

=
w2 + h2

For SAW:

t = leg size , for 10mm and smaller weld size

= theoretical t + 3mm , for weld size greater than 10mm.
Minimum size of Fillet Welds:

Material thickness of the Thicker Minimum size of Fillet

Part Joined Weld

To 6mm inclusive 3mm

Over 6mm to 12 mm 5mm
Over 12mm to 20mm 6mm
Over 20mm 8mm

Maximum size of Fillet Welds:

- For material with less than 6mm thickness Not greater than material thickness
- For material with thickness ≥ 6mm Not greater than material thickness
minus 1.6mm
Intermittent welds:
- effective length of any segment ≥ 4 x weld size but not less than 38mm.

Lapping length:
- minimum length of lapping = 5 times thickness of thinner part joined.

End Returns:
- not less than 2 times weld size.

Allowable Stress in Welds: (See Table 3.2 Textbook, Gillesania)

B) Groove Welds:

Effective Area of Groove Welds:

1. Equals the effective length times effective throat thickness.
2. Effective length shall be the width of the part joined.
3. Effective throat thickness of complete penetration groove weld shall
be the thickness of the thinner part joined.
4. Effective throat thickness of partial penetration groove welds:

Welding Process Weld position Included Angle Effective Throat

at Root of Groove Thickness

SMAW All J or U joint Depth of Chamfer

GMAW All Bevel or V joint Depth of Chamfer
≥ 60˚
FCAW All Bevel or V Joint Depth of Chamfer
< 60˚ but ≥45˚ minus 3mm.
 5. Minimum Effective Throat Thickness of Partial Penetration Groove Welds

Thickness of the Thicker Part Joined Minimum Effective Throat Thickness

To 6mm inclusive 3mm

Over 6mm to 12mm 6mm
Over 12mm to 20mm 6mm
Over 20mm to 38mm 8mm
Over 38mm to 57mm 10mm
Over 57mm to 150mm 12mm
Over 150mm 16mm

3) Plug/Slot Welds

- Effective Area = nominal cross sectional area of the hole or slot in the planes
of the faying surface.
-Diameter of hole shall not be less than the thickness of the part containing it
plus 8mm rounded off to the larger odd 1.6mm, nor greater than the minimum
diameter plus 3mm or 2 ¼ times the thickness of the weld.
- Minimum center-to-center spacing of plug weld shall be 4 times the diameter
of the hole.

- Minimum spacing of lines of slot welds in a direction tranverse to their length

shall be 4 times the width of the slot. The minimum center-to-center spacing in a
longitudunal direction on any line shall be 2 times the length of the slot.

- The length of the slot shall not exceed 10 times the thickness of the weld.

- The width of the slot shall not be less than the thickness of the part containing it
plus 8mm, nor shall it be larger than 2 ¼ times the thickness of the weld.

- The ends of the slot shall be semicircular or shall be rounded to a radius not less
than the thickness of the part containing it., except those ends which extend to the
edge of the part.

- The thickness of the plug or slot weld in materials 16mm or less in thickness shall
be equal to the thickness of the material. For materials over 16mm thick, the
thickness of the weld shall be at least ½ times the thickness of the material but not
less than 16mm.
Balanced Weld Group:
- the centroid of the weld group is made to coincide with the centroid of the part
joined in the direction of the applied axial load.
- the purpose is to eliminate eccentricity that will cause torsional stress in the
weld group.

Problem: A double-angle truss member consists of two 125mm x 88mm x 10mm thick
with the 125mm side welded to a gusset plate. The member is to carry
a tensile load of 848 kN. Using 6mm fillet weld with E60 electrode,
determine the length of each side weld for a balanced design. Fy = 250 Mpa
for the connected steel parts and Fu = 425 MPa for E60 electrode.

88mm 88mm L1

40mm
40mm centroidal axis (n.a.) 848 N

125mm 85mm

L2
Solution:

Allowable shear stress on effective weld area = 0.30 Fu = 0.30 (425) = 127.5 Mpa
Allowable shear stress on base metal joined = 0.40 Fy = 0.40(250) = 100 Mpa.

Analyzing one angle only, the load P on this angle = 848/2 = 424 kN.

Required total length of weld:

Based on shearing of weld
P = 424,000 = 0.707w ( L) (Fv ) = 0.707(6)(L)(127.5)
L = 748 mm

Based on shearing of base metal

P = 424,000 = wL Fv = 6(L)(100)
L = 706 mm < 748mm
use L = 748mm

For balanced design, the moment of weld area above n.a, should be equal to the
moment of the weld area below n.a.
L1 t(40) = L2 t (85) But L = 748 = L1 + L2 = 2.125 L2 + L2
L1 = 2.125 L2 thus, L2 = 250.88 mm, say 250mm
L1 = 533.12 mm, say 535mm