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 900 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 J2.4 p. 16.1-96:

Material thickness of the Minimum size of fillet weld:

thicker part joined:
Up to ¼” inclusive 1/8”
Over ¼” to ½” 3/16”
Over ½” to ¾” ¼”
Over ¾” 5/16”

Maximum size of a fillet weld = See AISC p. 16.1-96 paragraph 2b

= Thickness of thinner part up to ¼” thick
= Thickness – 1/16” over ¼” thick

Design SHEAR Strength of Fillet Welds:

From AISC p. 16.1-98

Weld available strength = Rn LRFD Design Strength = φRn

R
= FwAw ASD Allowable strength = n
Ω

where: φ = 0.75 for shear from AISC Table J2.5 p. 16.1-100

Ω = 2.00 for shear from AISC Table J2.5 p. 16.1-100

Fw = nominal strength of weld electrode, Table J2.5

= 0.60FEXX

FEXX = weld electrode strength

= 70 KSI for E70XX electrodes

Aw = effective cross-sectional area of weld, in2

= cos(450) x (Weld Size) x (Weld Length)

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Example (LRFD)
GIVEN: Two ¼” thick A36 steel plates fillet welded as shown below. Use
E70XX weld electrodes.
REQUIRED: Determine the maximum factored load, Pu, that can be
applied based on shear strength of the welds.

Pu

3/16 4”

Step 1 – Determine total length of fillet welds:

Total length = 2(4”)

= 8”

Step 2 – Determine design shear strength of welds:

Weld design strength = φRn

where: φ = 0.75 for shear from AISC Table J2.5

Rn = FwAw

Fw = nominal strength of weld electrode

= 0.60FEXX

FEXX = weld electrode strength, Table 8-3 p. 8-65

= 70 KSI for E70XX electrodes

Aw = effective cross-sectional area of weld, in2

= cos(450) x (Weld Size) x (Weld Length)

Weld design strength = 0.75(0.60(70 KSI))(cos(450)(3/16”)(8”))

Weld design strength = Pu = 33.4 KIPS

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