Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Welding Considerations
for Designers and Fabricators
BY DUANE K. MILLER, SC.D., P.E.
L
LATER THIS YEAR, AISC WILL ISSUE A NEW lenge, simply due to the geometry involved. Com-
DESIGN GUIDE ON WELDING. The Lincoln pounding this difficulty is the welder’s access to the
Electric Company’s Duane Miller, one of the na- joint; inevitably, the splice location will be only a few
tion’s foremost experts on structural welding and inches above the ground, requiring the welder to lie
the principal author of the design guide, provided prone when the weld is made.
a sneak peak at the new publication at this year’s A connection detail has been developed by Law-
NASCC: The Steel Conference. Here are some tid- rence Kloiber of LeJeune Steel to address some of
bits gleaned from two chapters of the prepublication the problematic aspects associated with anchor rod
draft of the new guide. extension. The weld joint is prepared as a horizontal
bevel groove weld. Tapering the end of the exten-
What do you do when an anchor rod is set too sion bar to a pencil point is not a good detail. Rather,
deep and there is inadequate thread available for two bevels should be formed in a chisel-like man-
proper engagement of the nut (and in extreme ner as shown in the figure. A ring or washer has
conditions, the end of the anchor rod may even been made from a steel with a known weldability,
be below the top surface of the base plate)? Ac- and with a thickness great enough that welds will
cording to section 12.1.2 in the new guide: not melt through it. The ring acts as a weld tab, al-
Anchor rod extension detail.
Possible solutions that involve welding are often lowing the arc starts and stops to be placed outside
offered, but such approaches are frequently prob- the width of the anchor rod. As with prequalified
lematic. double sided welds, the root region of the first weld
Even when weldable anchor rod is involved, sev- pass should be backgouged before the second side
eral commonly proposed corrective concepts are is welded. When the welding is complete, the ring
flawed. For example, if the rod is very short, some can be removed and the weld ground flush around
may be tempted to use a plug weld in the base plate the perimeter.
to weld on to the end of the anchor rod. This is a Welding is typically performed with SMAW
poor idea; plug welds are intended to be loaded using electrodes with low hydrogen coatings. The
in shear, not in tension. When there is insufficient strength of the electrode must be selected to match
thread for full nut engagement, some may contem- the strength of the anchor rod used. Depending on
plate welding the nut to the rod. Nuts are always the rod composition, preheat may be required.
hardened materials, and will have poor weldability,
so this is not a viable option. Can you weld galvanized steel? According to
Before welded options are considered, mechani- section 12.2.2 of the new design guide:
cal fastening options should be exhausted. For ex- When welding on materials with heavy galva-
ample, in some cases it is possible to machine a re- nized coatings, particularly for hot-dipped parts, the
cess into the top surface of the base plate, allowing zinc may enter into the liquid weld metal and lead
the nut to be installed in the normal manner. Where to segregation cracking. This is more problematic
holes in the anchor plate can be enlarged, a coupling than porosity: the potential consequences of crack-
nut can be used to mechanically add an extra length ing are more serious, and moreover, such cracking is
of anchor rod. often difficult to detect. Cracking tendencies in fillet
When an anchor rod must be extended by weld- welds made in T joints on galvanized steel depend
ing, and when the weldability of the anchor rod has on the following factors:
been established, the details of the splice are the ➜ The silicon content of the weld metal
next consideration. Welding two small-diameter, ➜ The degree of penetration of the weld beyond Duane Miller is Manager of
solid cylindrical parts to each other with the goal the root Engineering Services for The
of achieving 100 percent fusion is a significant chal- ➜ The thickness of the base metal (which affects Lincoln Electric Co., Cleveland.
than 30 degrees to keep welding and inspection of the weld in this A key process requirement, particularly for T-K-Y connections,
area from becoming too difficult. is to have easy access to the joint. SMAW provides for easy access
Square and rectangular HSS are cut with methods similar to those in terms of getting into the root of the joint, although the length
used for structural shapes: saws and thermal cutting methods. Saw- of the electrode may be restrictive in some situations. Gas shielded
ing is particularly effective with HSS, as the cut edges are often on processes require shielding gas nozzles that often restrict access
one plane. Complex intersections, however, may necessitate careful and visibility, particularly on members that intersect at acute angles.
thermal cutting. For the thicknesses of materials that are typically FCAW-S overcomes this restriction and is often used for this sin-
involved, plasma and laser cutting are particularly effective. gular purpose in T-K-Y connection fabrication.
Round HSS provide a particular challenge with respect to fabri-
cating the tubes for directly welded connections in that the ends of How do you select the proper weld type? Chapter 14 of the
the tubes must be “saddle cut” for T-K-Y connections. For Ts, the cut new guide deals with economy in welding and offers a number
is relatively easy to make, but when other than a 90 degree intersec- of suggestions as to the relative economy of different weld
tion is used, the cut profile becomes complicated, and the situation types and when each is most appropriate. Here a just a few of
is compounded further by an ever-changing bevel angle on the edge. the suggestions contained in the guide:
Fortunately, a computer controlled plasma and laser cutting appara- The number one cost in welding is that of the skilled labor
tus is available to cut such profiles, greatly simplifying the process required to make a weld. In general terms, labor will account for
while increasing fit-up quality. 75 percent to 95 percent of the cost of a weld made manually or
When round HSS are used in a truss-like assembly, special at- semiautomatically. Energy costs, filler metals, and shielding mate-
tention must be paid to the assembly sequence. For example, if the rials make up the remaining 5 percent to 25 percent. For a given
chords are fixed relative to each other, a cut-to-length vertical mem- weld size, economical welding is typically achieved when welding
ber cannot be inserted into the space (see figure next page), a problem procedures are used that deposit the required metal in the least
that does not happen with box HSS. Special techniques can be used amount of time. Quality and safety should never be compromised
to overcome this problem, typically involving cutting the tube and for the sake of productivity. It is not unusual, however, to make
making an extra splice in it. A planned out sequence can overcome quality welds in a safe manner with procedures that are twice as
this problem; an “E” configuration is made first, and the final chord productive as another otherwise acceptable alternative. In general
added later. terms, the higher productivity procedures will reduce the welding
HSS routinely requires all-position welding, and in the case of cost by 50 percent.
round HSS, the orientation of the joint continually changes. Thus, Most of the principles below are presented in terms of reduced
the welding process and position of welding necessitate all-position weld metal volumes, assuming that as the required amount of weld-
capability. HSS are typically very clean and free of heavy mill scale ing goes down, so will the required time to make the weld. One ca-
and oxides, and therefore the welding process does not need the de- veat: presenting the concepts in such terms runs the risk of imply-
oxidizing capability that might be necessary for welding on hot rolled ing that the major cost of welding is filler metal when in fact, with
material. HSS are often painted with glossy paint, and processes that North American labor rates, labor is invariably the largest single
generate low levels of spatter and less welding smoke are desirable cost factor in welding.
since they minimize after-welding clean up efforts. All of these factors The lowest cost weld will always be the one that is made only
and others will drive welding process selection and will determine the once. The cost of a weld repair is estimated to be ten times as great
suitability of the welding procedures. as the initial welding cost. If a particular weld design or welding