Generalities on Welded Connections

INTRODUCTION
Where there are favourable working g conditions, welding is the most economical way to make strong y g connections. Therefore, workshop connections are usually welded. y Where site connections are necessary ( (erection) they are usually bolted, but the ) y y , connections are often prepared in the workshop with welded plates, etc. p p , necessary for the bolted joint.

Examples

Examples

TYPES OF WELDS
Butt Welds

TYPES OF WELDS
full penetration butt weld in which there is a complete penetration and fusion of weld and parent metal throughout the thickness of the joint, see Figure 4. partial penetration butt weld, in which there is a weld penetration less than the full thickness of the joint see Figure 6 joint, 6.

Fillet Welds

lap joint, in which the parts welded are in p parallel planes, see Figure p , g 7a. tee or cruciform joint, in which the parts welded are more or less l perpendicular to one another, see Figure 7b. corner joint in which the joint, parts are also more or less perpendicular to one another, see Figure 7c. To improve th strength and i the t th d stiffness of the joint, the outer corner is normally butt welded, see Figure 8. g

Plug and Slot Welds

Spot Welds
Spot welds are seldom used in building structures. The parts to be j joined, which must be thin, are clamped together by two electrodes, p g y see Figure 10. A current passing through the electrodes melts the pieces locally, and the clamping pressure forces them together, forming a fused spot.A line of such spots constitutes a joint.

DESCRIPTION OF WELDS DEFINITIONS

The parent metal or the base metal is the steel material hi h is ld d m t i l which i welded. The filler metal or the weld metal is the electrode material used in the welding process. The root is the point of the joint line reached by the penetration of the filler metal. The face is the outside surface of the weld. The toe is the line on the weld face between the filler metal and the parent metal. The heat affected zone is a part of the parent metal which has not been melted with the filler metal, but which undergoes fast heating and cooling during the p passage of the welding arc. In this zone, the parent g g , p metal is subject to a hardening treatment and can consequently become brittle.

DESCRIPTION OF WELDS DEFINITIONS

The throat thickness, a, is the minimum distance from the root to the weld face ignoring the convex zone. Figure 13 shows the throat thickness a of a butt weld and a fillet weld. The length i the l i di l weld di Th l h is h longitudinal ld dimension i the di i in h direction of the welding arc i f h ldi displacement. Figure 13 shows welds for which the length l is the full length of the plates; for the lap joint of Figure 2 l would be the sum of twice the overlapped length plus the width of the smaller plate.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Parent Metal
The parent metal must have the weldability properties defined by the steel qualities of each steel grade. The weldability of a steel depends on its chemical composition and metallurgical characteristics The mechanical characteristics adopted in calculations are the yield strength fy and the ultimate tensile strength fu Further, in the case of plastic fu. analysis, steel must have an ultimate strain at least 20 times the yield strain and have a minimum elongation As at failure of at least 15%. The values of these characteristics are given in Table 1.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Parent Metal

Table 1 - Mechanical properties of hot rolled steels

Filler metal
The selection of welding consumable is to a great extent governed by the welding process Welding consumables shall be appropriate to the welding process used, the parent metal welded and the welding procedure adopted adopted. Welding consumables must be stored and handled with care and in conformity with the recommendations of the manufacturer manufacturer. Electrodes for manual arc welding shall be stored in their original containers in a dry and warm place, efficiently protected from adverse effects of weather weather. Flux shall be stored and transported in containers which protect it from absorbing moisture.

EDGE PREPARATION AND FIT-UP FITOne of the following arc welding processes may b used: be d metal arc-welding with covered electrodes flux-cored arc welding g submerged arc welding MIG (metal inert gas) welding MAG (metal active gas) welding.

EDGE PREPARATION AND FIT-UP FITAll these processes can be used in the workshop. Usually, only g g p y bolting or metal arc welding with covered electrodes is employed in the erection phase on the building site. With the metal arc welding process, welds can be made in all positions. The various weld positions are shown in Figure 14, where the arrows give the arc direction during the welding operation operation. It is clear that welding in the flat position is easily carried out, allowing a greater rate of metal deposition than the other positions;by welding in this favourable position, the maximum size of weld run can be obtained obtained. With ordinary welding consumables and favourable welding conditions, a fillet weld with a throat thickness of 6mm can be produced with only one run. For welds of greater thickness, more than one run is necessary. In this case, the welding sequence must be carefully planned, see Figure 15.

EDGE PREPARATION AND FIT-UP.. FITThe welding conditions, particularly the current limitation of the welding equipment, constitute a limit to the depth of penetration into the parent plate. For example, if a closed butt joint (no gap between the two plates) is welded with one run on each side, the penetration may not b complete and the central part of the j i will be l d h l f h joint ill remain unfused (Figure 16a). With a gap between the two parts of the joint, full penetration can be achieved with the same welding equipment. The limitation is then set by the thickness of the plates to be j joined. In practice, the limit for butt welds with square edges, p , q g , i.e. without preparation, is 10mm plate thickness with a 5mm gap. When the plate thickness exceeds this value, bevelled edges permit f ll penetration b several runs, see Fi it full t ti by l Figure 16b 16b.

EDGE PREPARATION AND FIT-UP.. FITEdge preparation consists essentially of cutting and bevelling the edges of the plates which are to be welded. These operations can be done by thermal cutting, by machining or by chipping or grinding. The resulting surfaces of the bevelled edges should be smooth, uniform, free from cracks and without rust. If h if f f k d ih thermal cutting or another process which hardens the material is used, the approved welding procedure must take account of this weld preparation process. Different bevel geometries are shown in Figure 3. Practical recommendations, for example Eurocode 3, Annex W (1), give some tolerance values for various weld types. Finally, before welding, surfaces and edges adjacent to the weld b f ldi f d d dj h ld location must be cleaned to remove oil, grease, paint or any other contaminants, which can affect the quality of the weld and the weld strength. g

WELD QUALITY -DISCONTINUITIES

The term quality includes all the characteristics of a product which affect i ability to serve i purpose. d hi h ff its bili its Normally, all welded structures undergo some weld inspection. The type and the extent for the inspection, as well as the choice of welds to be inspected are selected in accordance with the project specification. The principal purpose of weld inspection is to discover possible weld defects. Examples on weld defects are, see Figure 17 g

 Undercut. The thickness of the parent metal is reduced near the weld toe. Porosity or gas inclusions. Air or gas bubbles are incorporated in the melted metal, where they remain after cooling. I ffi i Insufficient throat. Th h The throat thickness is smaller than the design thickness. The resistance of the joint might j g be insufficient. Incomplete penetration. The throat thickness is smaller than the design thickness. The resistance of the joint might be insufficient.

CONCLUDING SUMMARY
Providing the right conditions with respect to welding - particularly fillet welding - normally represents the most economical way to join two pieces of steel. Two types of structural weld - fillet welds and butt welds - are in common use.Wherever possible fillet welds should be used. A number of standard terms are used when referring to welds. Throat thickness and length are the two most important descriptions for determining load carrying capacity capacity. Weld metal (electrodes) and parent metal (the parts to be joined) must be properly matched in terms of their physical properties. For butt ld F b tt welds suitable edge preparations will normally b required. it bl d ti ill ll be i d Welds must be inspected for possible defects so as to ensure adequate structural performance.