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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Overspecified Weld on A53 pipe frames
- - By wellonsb Date 05-02-2008 19:57
I have a job which is mostly made up of A53 10" sch 120 pipe frames.  The EOR has mandated that we use 5/8" fillet, but the design reactions are well exceeded with the code minimum 5/16" fillet weld for pipe-plate connections.  Are there any structural deficiencies such as embrittlement which could be caused by the excessive heat which will be applied by the additional 3 passes of weld?

Thanks,
Britt
Parent - - By 803056 (*****) Date 05-02-2008 23:56
If the EOR is specifying schedule 120 wall thickness, there is a reason to do so. If he is specifying 5/8 fillet welds, there is also a reason for it. Unless you understand statics and design (and I'm willing to accept the fact that you may have training in that arena) it is a stretch to believe the EOR is specifying large fillet welds just to increase the time of fabrication and the costs associated with making large fillet welds.

If you have the necessary training to recalculate the loads that act on the welds, I'm sure you can justify to the EOR that smaller welds will suffice.

As for the detrimental affects of multiple pass welds on the A53, rest assured, if proper welding practices are observed, no harm will result.

Best regards - Al
Parent - By JTMcC (***) Date 05-03-2008 03:16
My take is this, if you want to be designing work you should be in that field....if you want to be producing work designed by others you should be in that field. But living and working in one, and trying to do the work of the other is a garanteeeeeeed loser.

In my world, we recieve engineered drawings, and we produce a finished product as it's called out on paper (or email or a crayon drawing on a piece of cardboard). Personally I wish every engineer on the planet would start calling out larger and larger welds, that would of course mean more income for those of us that make those welds.

Everyone has a function in the supply chain including the eor, the welding contractor and the janitor sweeping the floors.

JTMcC.
Parent - - By wellonsb Date 05-20-2008 14:30
Well, it happened.  We put the first 8 frames into production this weekend and the plates which will connect the members in the field are shot.  3/4" gap, and they are supposed to be slip critical. The excessive heat imput casued by the overspecified weld caused significant distortion.  It's the designer's baby now.
Parent - By pipewelder_1999 (****) Date 05-20-2008 18:00
Could the welder have

1) Used his knowledge in distortion control and minimized distortion by jigging/fixturing, preheating, and utilizing the largest electrode possibly to minimize the number of passes ?

How thick was the plate ? Structural steel is not my strong point but I have seen a few baseplates machined after welding.

Another option to reduce the amount of welding for a given throat size is to use a partial penetration fillet reinforced groove weld. Same throat- less volume=Less beads.

Also, a 5/8" vs a 5/16 fillet weld is 4x the amount of weld.
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Overspecified Weld on A53 pipe frames

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