WELDED JOINT

1. INTRODUCTION:

A welded joint is a permanent joint which is obtained by the fusion of the edges of the two parts
to be joined together with or without the application of pressure and a filler material. The heat
required for the fusion of the materials may be obtained by burning of gas [in case of gas
welding] or by an electric arc [in case of electric arc welding]. The latter method is used
extensively because of greater speed of welding.

Welding is used extensively used in fabrication as an alternative method for casting or forging
and as replacement for bolted and riveted joint

2. WELDING PROCESSES
Welding processes can be divided into two categories:
A) Fusion Welding ( Use heat alone) and filler materials
i. Arc welding
ii. Gas welding
iii. Inert gas welding
iv. Thermit welding
B) Pressure Welding ( Use heat and Pressure) but no filler materials
i. Resistance welding
ii. Spot Seam, butt welding
iii. Forge welding
iv. Thermit Pressure welding

3. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF WELDED JOINTS

A) Advantages
i. The welded structures are usually lighter than riveted structures.
ii. The welded joints provide maximum efficiency which is not possible in case
of riveted joints.
iii. As the welded structure is smooth in appearance
iv. The process of welding takes less time than the riveting.
v. In welded connections, the tension members are not weakened, whereas
riveted are weak.
vi. A welded joint has a great strength. Often a welded joint has the strength of
the parent metal itself.
vii. Sometimes, the members are of such a shape (i.e. circular steel pipes) that
they afford difficulty for riveting. But they can be easily welded.
viii. The welding provides very rigid joints. This is in line with the modern trend
of providing rigid frames.
ix. It is possible to weld any part of a structure at any point. But riveting requires
enough clearance
 B) Disadvantages
i. Since there is an uneven heating and cooling during fabrication, therefore the
members may get distorted or additional stresses may develop. (Residue
Stresses)
ii. It requires a highly skilled labour and supervision.
iii. Since no provision is kept for expansion and contraction in the frame,
therefore there is a possibility of cracks developing in it.
iv. The inspection of welding work is more difficult than riveting work.

Residue Stresses: Are internal stresses results due to inhomogeneous change

in volume caused by expansion

4. STREGTH OF WELDED JOINTS

The strength of welded joint gets affected mainly by the following factors:
i. Crack initiation: It is possible that cracks form while cooling a melted metal
ii. Residue Stresses: Due to inhomogeneous heating of the base materials, residue stresses
may exists upon cooling
iii. Metallurgical transformation: in heat affected zone (HAZ) metallurgical properties
may change leading to weakening of the joint
iv. Defects of various kinds like incomplete penetration, porosity, slag inclusion which
affect the strength of a welded joint
v. Stress concentration: abrupt change in the geometry after welding may introduce stress
concentration in the structure

5. TYPE OF WELDED JOINTS

There great variety of welded joints in use but most joints are of two types:
a) Lap joints or Fillet joints
b) Butt joints
Other types are:
Corner joints, Edger joints and T-joints

a) Lap joints or Fillet joints

Lap or fillet joint is obtained by overlapping the plates and welding their edges. The
fillet joints may be single transverse fillet, double transverse fillet or parallel fillet
joints
b) Butt joints
Butt joints are formed by placing the plates edge to edge and welding them. Grooves
are sometimes cut (for thick plates) on the edges before welding According to the
shape of the grooves, the butt joints may be of different types
i. Square butt joint
ii. Single V-butt joint
iii. Double V-butt joint
iv. Single U-butt joint
v. Double U-butt joint
vi. Single J-butt joint
vii. Double J-butt joint
viii. Single bevel-butt joint
ix. Double bevel-butt joint

Other type of welded joints

6. BASIC WELD SYMBOL

Welds are in accordance with ISO recommendations, represented by a symbol or
symbols. The details which are necessary to specify the type of weld in a welding
drawing are:
a) Form of weld: They are shown by basic weld symbols. The common form of weld
and their basic symbols are as shown in the Table below

b) Type of Contour and type of Surface finish: After welding is done the surface is
properly finished. The contour of the weld joint may be flush, concave or convex and
surface finish may be grinding finish, machining or chipping finish. The symbols of
the contour and the surface finish are as shown in the Table below

c) Location of the weld

Location of the welds is classified on the drawings by specifying:
i. position of the arrow line,
ii. position of the reference line and
iii. position of the symbol

Standard Location of Elements of a welding symbol: The elements of a welding

symbol shall have standard locations with respect to other. The arrow points to the
locations of weld, the basic symbols with dimensions are placed on one or both
(Arrow and other) sides of reference line. The specification if any is placed in the tail
arrow
Example: If the desired weld is a fillet weld of size 10mm to be done on each side of
Tee joint with convex contour, the weld symbol will be as following
7 STREGTH OF WELDED JOINTS

A) Fillet welded joint

(i) Transverse fillet weld
In order to determine the strength of fillet joint, it is assumed that the section of
fillet weld is a right angled triangle (see figure below) with hypotenuse AC
marking equal angles with other sides AB and BC

The length of each side is known as leg or size of the weld and perpendicular
distance to the hypotenuse from intersection of legs (BD) is known as a throat
thickness. The minimum area of the weld is obtained at the throat BD which is
given by product of the throat thickness and length of weld

t= Throat thickness (BD)

S=Leg or size of weld =AB=BC=Thickness of plate
l= length of the weld
t=S ×sin 45° =0.707 S

Minimum area of the weld or throat area, A

A=Throat thickness × Length of weld=t .l=0.707 sl
 Tensile strength of the joint =Throat area × Allowable Tensile stress

∴ Tensile strength=0.707 sl ×σ t=0.707 sl σ t

For double transverse weld, the tensile strength =2 ×0.707 sl σ t
∴ Tensile strength for doubletransvere weld 1.414 sl σ t

(ii) Parallel fillet welded Joints

The parallel fillet welded joints are designed for shear strength

For parallel fillet weld, shear strength of the weld (for both top and bottom weld) = =
2 ×0.707 hl τ s
∴ Strength of∥fillet weld 1.414 hl τ s
Where τ s=allowable shear stress of the weld metal∧h ( s ) =thickness of the plate
In design of welded joint above variables are h and l
(iii) Combination of single transverse and parallel fillet weld

The strength of the joint is the sum of strengths of single transverse and parallel fillet
welds
∴ The strength=0.707 h l 1 σ t +1.414 h l 2 τ s

(iii) Circular fillet welded Subjected to Torsion

Consider a circular shaft connected to a plate by means of fillet weld as shown in the
figure below.
If the shaft is subjected to a torque, shear stress develops in the weld in a similar way as
in parallel fillet joint. Assuming the weld thickness is very small as compared to the
diameter of the shaft, the maximum shear stress occurs in the throat area. The stress
Mt τ s
developed in the fillet can be calculated by the equation =
J r
Where M t =Twisting moment /Torque /Torsio n
J=Polar Moment of Inertia of weld
τ s=Shear stress
r =Radius of rod
J=∫ r dA=r ∫ dA
2 2

dA=2 πr × 0.707 h
∴ J =r 2 ×dA=2 π r 3 × 0.707 h
∴ J =2 π r 3 × 0.707 h=1.414 π r 3 h
Mt r Mt r
∴ τs= =τ s= 3
J 1.414 π r h
Mt
∴ The maximum shear stress is give as : τ s = 2
1.414 π r h
(IV) Circular fillet welded Subjected to Bending moments

Consider a circular rod connected to a rigid plate by fillet weld as shown in figure above
We know that the bending stress is obtained from the equation:
M σb
=
I y
 Where M =Maximum bending moment
I =Second moment of area
σ b=Maximum bending stress
y=Maximum distance ¿ neutral axis=r
I =I xx =I yy =∫ x dA =
2

But J=∫ r 2 dA=∫ ( x 2 + y 2 ) dA =2∫ x dA=2∫ y dA

2 2

∴ J =2 I xx=2 I yy

From J=r 2 × dA=2 π r 3 ×0.707 h then

2 3
I xx =I yy =I =r × dA=π r × 0.707 h

3
I =π r × 0.707 h
Mr Mr
σ b=¿ = 3
I π r ×0.707 h
M
∴ σb= 2
0.707 π r h

B) Butt welded joint

The Butt joints are designed for tension or compression. Consider a single V-butt joint
The leg or size of weld is equal to the throat thickness which is equal to the
thickness of plates
The strength of the butt joint, P=s × l× σ t
Where s=leg∨¿ thickness of plate
For safe working of the joint loading to the joint should always be less than
strength calculated above. Safe load = s × ( l−2 s ) × σ t

C) Unsymmetrical Sections Loaded Axially

Examples of unsymmetrical sections are Angle section, T-sections, channels etc.
Consider angle section shown in figure below
If a tensile force P is applied so as to pass through the centre of gravity (C.G) of
the section, then the length of the fillet nearer to C.G ( l b ) will take greater
proportion of the force P than the length of the fillet weld which is away from
C.G( l a ). The lengths l a∧l b are to be so proportional that the forces carried by the
two fillet weld exert no moment about centre of gravity axis. The two fillets are at
distances of a and b from C.G.
If q is the resistance (force) by the weld per unit length, and since the sum of the
moments of the weld about gravity axis must be zero, therefore
q × l a × a−q ×l b ×b=0
∴ l a × a=¿ l b ×b
l× b l× a
∴ l a= ∧l b=
a+b a+b
where l=¿ l a +¿ l b=Total length of weld