Weld Stress Calculations
Weld Stress Calculations
Weld Stress Calculations
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Nomenclature
Weld Strength Calculations
Introduction
The following notes are general guidance notes showing methods of calculation of the strength and size of welds. Welded joints are often
crucially important affecting the safety of the design systems. It is important that the notes and data below are only used for preliminary
design evaluations. Final detail design should be completed in a formal way using appropriate codes and standards and quality reference
documents
Relevant Standards
BS 5950-1:2000 ..Structural use of steelwork in building. Code of practice for design. Rolled and welded sections
BS EN 10025-1:2004 - Hot rolled products of structural steels. General technical delivery conditions
BS EN 1993-1-8:2005- Eurocode 3 :Design of joints ..Replaces BS 449-2, BS 4604-1, BS 4604-2, BS 5400-3 and BS 5950-1
Guidance Principles
A generous factor of safety should be used (3-5) and if fluctuating loads are present then additional design margins should be included to
allow for fatigue
Use the minimum amount of filler material consistent with the job requirement
Try to design joint such that load path is not not through the weld
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The table below provides provides approximate stresses in, hopefully, a convenient way.
For the direct loading case the butt weld stresses are tensile/ compressive t for the fillet welds the stresses are assumed to be shear s
applied to the weld throat.
For butt welded joints subject to bending the butt weld stresses result from a tensile/compressive stress b and a direct shear stress s .
In these cases the design basis stress should be r = Sqrt ( b2 + 4 s2)
For Fillet welded joints subject to bending the stresses in the fillet welds are all shear stresses. From bending b and from shear s
In these cases the design basis stress is generally r =Sqrt ( b2 + s2)
The stresses from joints subject to torsion loading include shear stress from the applied load and shear stresses from the torque
loading. The resulting stresses should be added vectorially taking care to choose the location of the highest stresses.
Weldment
b
s
Stress in Weld
Weldment
b
s
Weld size (h)
Stress in Weld
Weldment
b
s
Weld size (h)
Assessment of Fillet Weld Groups ref notes and table Properties of Fillet Welds as lines
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Important note: The methods described below is based on the simple method of calculation of weld stress as identified in BS 5950- clause
6.7.8.2 . The other method identifed in BS 5950 - 1 clause 6.7.8.3 as the direction method uses the method of resolving the forces
transmitted by unit thickness welds per unit length into traverse forces (FT ) and longitudinal forces (FL ). I have, to some extent, illustrated
this method in my examples below
The method of assessing fillet welds groups treating welds as lines is reasonably safe and conservative and is very convenient to use.
a) Weld subject to bending....See table below for typical unit areas and unit Moments of Inertia
A fillet weld subject to bending is easily assessed as follows.
1) The area of the fillet weld A u..(unit thickness) is calculated assuming the weld is one unit thick..
2) The (unit) Moment of Inertia I u is calculated assuming the weld is one unit thick..
3) The maximum shear stress due to bending is determined... b = M.y/I u
4) The maximum shear stress due to direct shear is determined.. s = P /A
5) The resultant stress r = Sqrt ( b2 + s2 )
6) By comparing the design strength p w with the resultant stress r the value of the weld throat thickness is calculated and then the weld
size.
i.e. if the r /p w = 5 then the throat thickess t = 5 units and the weld leg size h = 1,414t
a) Weld subject to torsion...See table below for typical unit areas and unit Polar moments of Inertia
A fillet weld subject to torsion is easily assessed as follows.
1) The area of the fillet weld A u (unit thickness) is calculated assuming the weld is one unit thick
2) The (unit) Polar Moment of Inertia J u is calculated assuming the weld is one unit thick.. The polar moment of inertia J = I xx + I yy
3) The maximum shear stress due to torsion is determined... t = T.r/J u
4) The maximum shear stress due to direct shear is determined.. s = P /A u
5) The resultant stress r is the vector sum of t and s. r is chosen to give the highest value of r
6) By comparing the design strength p w with the resultant stress r the value of the weld throat thickness is calculated and then the weld
size.
i.e. if the r /p w = 5 then the throat thickess t = 5 units and the weld leg size h = 1,414.t
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A = 250-27 =223mm
Moment M = P.r = 10000.223 = 2,23.106 N.mm
J u = [(b+d)4 - 6b2d2] /12 (b+d) = 1,04.106..(From Table)
sv = P /A u = 10000/270 = 37 N/mm2
tv = M.r zh /J u = 2,23.106.93/1,04.106 = 199 N/mm2
v = 236,45 N/mm2
The horizontal stress h = sh + th
sh = 0
th = M.r zv /J u = 2,23.106.42/1,04.106 = 90 N/mm2
h = 90 N/mm2
sv = P /A u = 10000/270 = 37 N/mm2
tv = M.r wh /J u = 2,23.106.27/1,04.106 = 57,9 N/mm2
v = 20,86 N/mm2
The horizontal stress h = sh + th
sh = 0
th = T.r wv /J u = 2,23.106.108/1,04.106 = 231,6 N/mm2
h = 231,6 N/mm2
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P= 30000 Newtons
d= 100mm
b= 75mm
y = 50mm
Design Stress p w = 220 N/mm 2 (Electrode E35 steel S275) Design Strength
Moment = M = 30000*60=18.10 5 Nmm
Simple Method as BS 5950 clause 6.8.7.2
Unit Weld Area = A u = 2(d+b) =2(100+75) =350mm 2
Unit Moment of Inertia = I u
= d 2(3b+d) / 6 = 100 2 (3.75 +100) / 6 =5,42.105 mm4
r = Sqrt( s2 + b2)
s = P / A u = 30000/350 = 85,71 N/mm 2
b = M.y / I u = 18.105 . 50 / 5,42.105 = 166,05 N/mm 2
r = Sqrt(85,71 2 + 166.052) =186,86 N/mm2
r / p w = 186,86 / 220 = 0,85 = Throat Thickness.....
( Throat thickness for = 220 N/mm2 )
Leg Length = Throat thickness *1,414 = 1,2mm use 3mm
weld thickness
and bending stresses" above a value of b = 198 N/mm and The angle of the resulting specific load to the horizontal element
a value of s = 100 N/mm2 results with a resultant stress of
= arctan(85,71/166,5)= 27,5o.
Properties of weld groups with welds treated as lines It is accepted that it is reasonably accurate to use properties based on unit weld thickness in calculation to determine the strength of welds
as shown in the examples on this page. The weld properties Ixx Iyy and J are assumed to be proportional to the weld thickness. The
typical accuracy of this method of calculation is shown below...
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Ixx
Iyy
J= Ixx +Iyy
Accurate
60
50
955080
108000
1063080
Simple
60
50
900000
108000
1008000
6%
5%
Error
Note: The error identified with this method is lower as h increases relative to d. This error is such that the resulting designs are
conservative.
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RA = RB=46,29 N/mm2
RA = RB=48,59 N/mm2
RC = RD = 45,56N/mm2
RC = RD = = 45,31N/mm2
Note: The example above simply illustrates the vector method adding direct and torsional shear stresses and compares the difference in
using the unit weld width method and using real weld sizes. The example calculates the stress levels in an existing weld group it is clear that
the weld is oversized for the loading scenario. The difference in the resulting values are in less than 4%. If the welds were smaller i.e 3mm
then the differences would be even smaller.
Table properties of a range of fillet weld groups with welds treated as lines -
Throat Area
Weld
Unit Area
Location of COG
x
y
I xx-(unit)
J-(Unit)
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{ (FL/PL) 2 + (FT/PT) 2 } 1
The following table is in accord with data in BS 5950 part 1. Based on design strengths as shown in table below ... Design Strength
PL = a.pw
PT = a.K.pw
a = weld throat size.
K =1,25 (1,5 / (1 + Cos 2 )
PT based on elements transmitting forces at 90o i.e = 45o and K = 1,25
Weld Capacity E35 Electrode S275 Steel
Leg
Length
Throat
Thickness
mm
mm
Longitudinal
Capacity
Transverse
Capacity
P L(kN/mm)
P T (kN/mm)
kN/mm
kN/mm
Throat
Thickness
mm
mm
Longitudinal
Capacity
Transverse
Capacity
PL
PT
kN/mm
kN/mm
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2,1
0,462
0,577
2,1
0,525
0,656
2,8
0,616
0,720
2,8
0,700
0,875
3,5
0,770
0,963
3,5
0,875
1,094
4,2
0,924
1,155
4,2
1,050
1,312
5,6
1,232
1,540
5,6
1,400
1,750
10
7,0
1,540
1,925
10
7,0
1,750
2,188
12
8,4
1,848
2,310
12
8,4
2,100
2,625
15
10,5
2,310
2,888
15
10,5
2,625
3,281
18
12,6
2,772
3,465
18
12,6
3,150
3,938
20
14,0
3,08
3,850
20
14,0
3,500
4,375
22
15,4
3,388
4,235
22
15,4
3,850
4,813
25
17,5
3,850
4,813
25
17,5
4,375
5,469
35
43
50
N/mm2
N/mm2
N/mm2
S275
220
220
220
S355
220
250
250
S460
220
250
280
Weld Welding
Pipe Welding
Calculation
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