Miguel, I have seen the kind of weld reinforcement you are talking about. It usually happens because of too much amperage and/or too slow a travel with sub-arc on the cover. The bead edges form almost a 90 degree angle to the plate surface while the middle is nice and flat. It almost looks like someone laid a thin flat bar on the surface. If there was a little less metal, it would be the perfect cover pass, and the machines should be adjusted to take care of it.

Unfortunately, "gradual transition" is a subjective definition. Figure 5.4 helps but it too lacks actual dimensions. I loosely apply the 1 to 2.5 (~22 degrees) criteria found in Figure 2.2 and take into consideration that the weld toe could form a bit more than 22 degrees but should not exceed 45 degrees. The condition is almost considered overlap, but not quite. This is just my personal opinion. If I were challenged on it I would have to refer the matter to the responsible engineers.

Hope this helps,
CHGuilford

I agree that the "reinforcement" amount may not affect the quality of the weld as much as the re-entrant angle into the base metal at the weld toes.

I sometimes wonder how much time is wasted grinding the reinforcement off of butt welds just so our gauges measure properly.

"Gradual" what a term to use in a code!