Welding and Fillet Welds Essay Example
Design of Steel Structures
Prof. S.R.Satish Kumar and Prof. A.R.Santha Kumar
3.3 Welding and welded connections
Welding is the process of joining two pieces of metal by creating a strong metallurgical bond between them by heating or pressure or both. It is distinguished from other forms of mechanical connections, such as riveting or bolting, which are formed by friction or mechanical interlocking. It is one of the oldest and reliable methods of joining.
Welding offers many advantages over bolting and riveting. Welding enables direct transfer of stress between members eliminating gusset and splice plates necessary for bolted structures. Hence, the weight of the joint is minimum. In the case of tension members, the absence of holes improves the efficiency of the section. It involves less fabrication cost compared to other methods due to handling of fewer parts and elimination of operations like drilling, punching etc. and consequently less labour leading to economy. Welding offers air tight and water tight joining and hence is ideal for oil storage tanks, ships etc. Welded structures also have a neat appearance and enable the connection of complicated shapes. Welded structures are more rigid compared to structures with riveted and bolted connections. A truly continuous structure is formed by the process of fusing the members together. Generally welded joints are as strong or stronger than the base metal, thereby placing no restriction on the joints. Stress concentration effect is also considerably less in a welded connection.
Some of the disadvantages of welding are that it requires skilled manpower for welding as well as inspection. Also, non-destructive evaluation may have to be carried out to detect defects in welds. Welding in the field may be difficult due to the location or environment. Welded joints are highly prone to cracking under fatigue loading. Large residual stresses and distortion are developed in welded connections.
3.3.1 Fundamentals
Prof. S.R.Satish Kumar and Prof. A.R.Santha Kumar
3.3 Welding and welded connections
Welding is the process of joining two pieces of metal by creating a strong metallurgical bond between them by heating or pressure or both. It is distinguished from other forms of mechanical connections, such as riveting or bolting, which are formed by friction or mechanical interlocking. It is one of the oldest and reliable methods of joining.
Welding offers many advantages over bolting and riveting. Welding enables direct transfer of stress between members eliminating gusset and splice plates necessary for bolted structures. Hence, the weight of the joint is minimum. In the case of tension members, the absence of holes improves the efficiency of the section. It involves less fabrication cost compared to other methods due to handling of fewer parts and elimination of operations like drilling, punching etc. and consequently less labour leading to economy. Welding offers air tight and water tight joining and hence is ideal for oil storage tanks, ships etc. Welded structures also have a neat appearance and enable the connection of complicated shapes. Welded structures are more rigid compared to structures with riveted and bolted connections. A truly continuous structure is formed by the process of fusing the members together. Generally welded joints are as strong or stronger than the base metal, thereby placing no restriction on the joints. Stress concentration effect is also considerably less in a welded connection.
Some of the disadvantages of welding are that it requires skilled manpower for welding as well as inspection. Also, non-destructive evaluation may have to be carried out to detect defects in welds. Welding in the field may be difficult due to the location or environment. Welded joints are highly prone to cracking under fatigue loading. Large residual stresses and distortion are developed in welded connections.
3.3.1 Fundamentals