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DESIGN PART 3

 
 

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Fillet welds may be combined with full or partial penetration butt welds - a

combination weld. The designer is therefore required to decide whether to

use a T-butt weld, a fillet weld or a combination of the two. In making this

decision cost is a major factor.

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As mentioned in Job knowledge 91, the fillet weld requires no weld

preparation, is easy to deposit and is often regarded as the cheapest weld of

all to make. However cross sectional area, and therefore cost, increases as a

function of the square of the leg length. Assuming the same strength

requirements from the fillet welds as for the T-butt welds it becomes more

economical to use a double sided full penetration T-butt joint at a plate

thickness of around 30mm.The accuracy of this figure should be treated with

caution as it is dependent on many factors such as the weld preparation

costs and included angle.

Welding position is an additional factor. It may be more economical to

deposit a butt weld in the flat position, where large diameter electrodes and

high welding currents can be used, rather than a double sided fillet weld

where one weld must be made in the overhead position ( Fig.1).

Fig.1. Flat position T-butt weld vs overhead fillet weld

An additional benefit from using a T-butt weld is that this weld type provides

a direct transfer of force through the joint, giving a better performance under

fatigue loads. Many design specifications will also have lower allowable

stresses for a fillet weld compared with a butt weld and this can have a

significant effect on cost, particularly when designing to match the strength

of thicker plates.

It should be remembered that it is difficult, if not impossible, to examine a

fillet weld volumetrically using radiographic or ultrasonic techniques and the

internal weld quality is therefore entirely dependent on the skill and integrity

of the welder. The comments on T-joints also apply to corner joints where
two fillet welds may be more economical than one large fillet as shown in

Fig.2. However, remember that one weld may need to be made in the

overhead position if the component cannot be turned.

Fig.2. Corner Joints: Area of weld in a) -50mm2; and b) -25mm2

From the foregoing it is obvious that the decision to use fillet welds, T-butt

joints or combination welds is not as straightforward as it may first appear

and there are numerous factors that must be taken into account.

Butt joints are those welds where the weld metal is contained within the

planes of the surfaces of the items being joined. The weld throat may be the

full section thickness, a full penetration joint, or a proportion only - a partial

penetration joint. Welds may be 'single sided joints', welded all from one side,

or 'double sided', welded from both sides, ( Fig.3).

 Fig.3. Full and partial penetration welds

Except for very thin plate, arc welded butt joints require a weld preparation

to be flame cut or machined along the joint line. The conventional arc

welding processes can penetrate into the base metal by only a limited

amount. The maximum penetration in conventional TIG or manual metal arc

(SMAW) welds is in the region of 3mm, MAG (GMAW) welds around 6mm and

submerged arc some 15mm.

In order to weld the full thickness of a plate and achieve the weld throat

thickness required by design it is therefore necessary to cut away sufficient

metal along the joint line so that the welding electrode has access to the root

of the joint, enabling the root pass to be deposited and then the remainder

filled to complete the joint. A weld preparation, the 'weld prep', is therefore

formed along the joint line using flame cutting, plasma cutting or machining.

Figure 4 identifies the key features of a 'single bevel' weld preparation and

those of a 'single-V' joint.

The smaller the included angle, the less access this will give to the root and

the greater is the risk of defects such as lack of side wall fusion. This reduced

access may, however, be compensated for by an increase in the root gap.

The bevel angles and the root gap will depend upon the process(es) used to

make the joint and the material thickness. A narrow included angle requires

less weld metal and therefore is more economical as the thickness increases.

A downside to this is that the narrower the angle the more difficult access

becomes and the risk of welding defects as mentioned above.

Too wide a root gap will result in a loss of control of the weld pool and melt

through giving an irregular and excessive penetration bead. This may be

overcome by using a backing strip if this is permitted by the service

conditions.

Fig.4. Single bevel weld preparation

The choice of the weld preparation is therefore a compromise between

maintaining adequate access and minimising the weld volume.

If a high quality root bead is required and access is not available to the root

side of the weld e.g. in a pipe carrying fluids or in high pressure service, then

an acceptable condition can be achieved using the TIG process to make the

root bead. A typical pipe butt weld set-up would be 60° included angle, 1mm

to 2mm root gap and a zero to 1.5mm thick root face.

Where access to the reverse side of the joint is available, the condition of the

penetration bead is less important as the root bead can be ground to sound

metal and a sealing pass deposited.

A reduction in weld volume can be achieved by the use of a 'J' preparation as

shown in Fig.5. This preparation, unlike the straight chamfer of the 'V'

preparation which can be flame cut, must be machined.

Fig.5. Key features of single sided 'J' preparation

This can be an expensive operation, which is why this type of weld is used

only on thick joints, where the saving in deposited weld metal outweighs the

cost of machining, or where very high quality root beads are required.

Machining of the weld preparation dictates that the dimensions, particularly

that of the root face thickness, can be controlled far more closely than is

possible with flame cutting and therefore a more accurate fit-up can be

achieved.
It is often used on orbitally TIG welded pipe butt joints where a machined

joint enables the tolerances required by a fully automatic process to be

achieved.

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Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge, CB21 6AL, UK

+44(0)1223 899000

contactus@twi.co.uk

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