Welded connection analysis

and design
Slides prepared by: Joe Davidson B. Guzman
• The minimum length of a fillet weld may not
be less than four times the nominal size of the
weld
• The maximum size of a fillet weld along the
edges of material less than 1/4inch (6mm)
thick equals the material thickness. For thicker
material, it may not be larger than the
material thickness less 1/16” or 1.6mm.

5/16 15

PL 10”x3/4”

Determine the design strength of the welded connection shown.

The steel is A572 Gr. 50 steel. E70 electrodes are used for the fillet
welds.
Recall: Welded Connection Limit States
Weld Metal Capacity

Where
= electrode strength (ksi or Mpa)
= length of weld (in or mm)
= size of weld (in or mm)

Base Metal Capacity

= gross area in shear

= net area in shear
• The minimum length of a fillet weld may not
be less than four times the nominal size of the
weld
• The maximum size of a fillet weld along the
edges of material less than 1/4inch (6mm)
thick equals the material thickness. For thicker
material, it may not be larger than the
material thickness less 1/16” or 1.6mm.

5/16 15

PL 10”x3/4”

Determine the design strength of the welded connection shown.

The steel is A572 Gr. 50 steel. E70 electrodes are used for the fillet
welds.
 5/16 15 Determine the design strength of the welded connection shown. The steel
is A572 Gr. 50 steel. E70 electrodes are used for the fillet welds.

PL 10”x3/4”
 5/16 15

PL 10”x3/4”
 5/16 15

PL 10”x3/4”
Design of Welded Connections
The step-by-step process for designing a welded connection:
1. Determine the factored load, Pu.
2. Choose a weld size based on weld limitation (𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏 , 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒙 )
• Use the largest weld size up to 5/16” or 8 mm (more on this later).
3. Determine the capacity of a single inch of weld, 𝜱𝑹𝒏
• Based on both the weld metal and base metal capacities
4. Divide to obtain the total number of required inches
5. Layout welded connection
• Either longitudinal welds or longitudinal + transverse welds

Notes in designing welded connections

In design, we typically want to choose the largest weld size possible:
• Results in the shortest weld length
• Quicker to deposit (most economical)
A common weld size used for design is 5/16” or 8 mm
• The reason why is because this is the largest size of weld that can be deposited with a single pass of the electrode
Never layout a welded connection with only transverse welds! (poor performance in ductility).

Note that you may need to deposit a larger weld, but this is usually only the case when the loads are fairly
large.
 Using E70 electrodes, design a fillet weld to resist a service dead
? ? load of 15 kips and a service live load of 40 kips.
• A572 Gr. 50 steel plate is used
• Assume the capacity of the gusset plate to be adequate.

PL 6” x 3/8”
 Using E70 electrodes, design a fillet weld to resist a service dead
? ? load of 15 kips and a service live load of 40 kips.
• A572 Gr. 50 steel plate is used
• Assume the capacity of the gusset plate to be adequate.

PL 6” x 3/8”
 Using E70 electrodes, design a fillet weld to resist a service dead
? ? load of 15 kips and a service live load of 40 kips.
• A572 Gr. 50 steel plate is used
• Assume the capacity of the gusset plate to be adequate.

PL 6” x 3/8”
 PL 12 x 300 Design a Fillet weld in order to resist a full capacity load of the
1x150mm member as shown. Use A572 Gr. 50 steel and E70
Electrodes for the weld material. Use LRFD and ASD.

𝑙
PL 10 x 150