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Cold Weather Welding Plate Girder Stiffeners
Is there a threshold temperature beyond which I should Where did Equation G4-3 of the 1989 AISC ASD Specifica-
indicate field welding of deck to structural steel, or struc- tion, used to compute weld requirements for stiffeners, go?
tural welding should not be attempted?
Equation G4-3 in the 1989 AISC ASD Specification calculated
I once asked a related question of Omer Blodgett at Lincoln the required shear strength of the welds attaching the
Electric. He told me it is a matter of heat input, and there are transverse stiffeners to the web of a plate girder and read:
procedures in AWS D1.1 that address this. His advice to me
( 340
F
)
3
was that when the weather gets cold, it is the tack welding that fvs = h y

requires the most scrutiny because the heating and quenching

rates are so much faster in this case. The 1989 AISC ASD Specification was the last time the
The technical answer is also available. AWS D1.1 Table equation made an appearance. The Commentary to the 1989
3.2 has minimum temperatures for welding. The table often AISC ASD Specification states: “The amount of shear to be
lists none, but there is a footnote that sets a floor at 32 ºF. If transferred between web and stiffeners is not affected by the
conditions are below that, it is required to raise the steel to 70 eccentricity of loading and generally is so small that it can be
ºF via preheating. taken care of by the minimum sized fillet weld. The specified
Deck welding is covered in AWS D1.3, but it does not Equation (G4-3) affords a conservative estimate of required
require heating. The requirements in that document were shear transfer under any condition of stress permitted by
based on a study showing that low temperatures do not cause a Equation (G3-1).” The 1st Edition AISC LRFD Specification
problem with arc spot welds. contained no provisions governing the connection of the
Charles J. Carter, S.E., P.E., Ph.D. stiffeners, perhaps based upon the Commentary statement that
minimum-sized fillet welds would suffice.
Washer Plates for Column Base Plates Lest anyone ever try to connect the stiffeners to the web
The projection of some of the anchor bolts on our project with chewing gum, prescriptive requirements are included at
is shorter than expected. We have 1/2-in. plate washers to the end of Section G2.2 of the 2010 AISC Specification. These
cover the holes as shown in Table 14-2 of the AISC Steel requirements replace the previous conservative calculations.
Construction Manual. The table does not refer to steel Larry S. Muir, P.E.
grade for the plate washers. We are wondering if we can
use thinner plate washers if we use A572-50 steel plate Domestic or Foreign Steel?
instead of A36 steel. Are U.S.-dimensioned W-shapes produced in the U.S. or
by foreign sources?
Table 14-2 does not indicate the steel grade, but the discussion
on “Washer Requirements” on page 14-10 indicates that The vast majority of W-shapes used in the U.S.
washers are most typically furnished from A36 material, which construction market are produced in the U.S. These shapes
is the basis for the table. meet the dimensions in ASTM A6/A6M and usually meet
The length and width dimensions in Table 14-2 are the the strength and other requirements of ASTM A992. In
minimum recommended dimensions to cover the correlating recent quarters, domestic mills such as Nucor-Yamato,
base plate hole sizes. The minimum plate thickness indicated Gerdau and Steel Dynamics have exported up to 14% of
is selected based on two considerations: (a) the strength their production. The notable exception is Arcelor-Mittal,
required to prevent the anchor rod from pulling through when which provides ASTM A913 W-shapes to the U.S. market
the base plate is subject to uplift and (b) the stiffness required from its Luxembourg facility.
to prevent “large” displacement when the base plate is subject Martin Anderson
to uplift. In general, washer thicknesses roughly one-third of
the anchor rod diameter meet the stiffness requirement. HSS Wall Thickness
Increasing the strength of the washer material to 50 ksi ASTM sets minimum wall thickness at 90% of nominal,
would give you more strength, but making it thinner would while AISC bases section properties on a design wall thick-
reduce your stiffness. That said, if you evaluate the washer ness of 93% of nominal. Therefore, a member can meet the
strength and stiffness based on your actual anticipated loads, ASTM specification even if its actual wall thickness is less
you may be able to change material and reduce the thickness. than the design wall thickness presented in AISC’s spec.
Susan Burmeister, P.E. Shouldn’t the tolerance and the reduction be the same?

 Modern STEEL CONSTRUCTION

 steel interchange
The design wall thickness (0.93 times the nominal wall First, there is the obvious question of moment continuity
thickness) is an estimate of the actual wall thickness between the web and chord. I think you should check the weld
provided by manufacturers in the U.S. for electric- to ensure it can resist a sizeable percentage of the double-
resistance-welded HSS. When the design wall thickness angle flexural strength. Unfortunately, I don’t know how
is used with the safety factors and resistance factors in to define “sizeable percentage,” so you must use your own
the AISC Specification (a free download at www.aisc.org), engineering judgment. See the fourth full paragraph on Page
HSS will have approximately the same reliability as a 16.1-514. You might choose to make an adjustment for
rolled shape. This is because the allowable mass variation connection flexibility.
is similar to that of other shapes when the design wall Second, the alignment charts were developed using the
thickness is the basis for design. Here is why: multitude of assumptions described in the surrounding text.
Based on ASTM A500 for an HSS, the minimum area as a Study these assumptions carefully to make sure your condition
percentage of the design area is 0.90 / 0.93 = 96.8% is consistent with the assumptions, or at least close enough that
Based on ASTM A6 for a wide-flange shape, the minimum the approach can still be used. It is likely that adjustment must
area as a percentage of the design area is 100% – 2.5% = 97.5% be made as described in the second paragraph on page 16.1-514
ASTM A1085-13 also merits mention here. It’s a new HSS (girders with significant axial load). This adjustment must, at the
standard that includes a mass tolerance, and we expect it will very least, be performed due to compression chord axial load.
allow the design rules in AISC 360-16 to use the nominal wall Third, you’ll have to be consistent in analysis and design
thickness in design for ASTM A1085 HSS. For more on A1085, to avoid violating Section B1, which states “The design
see www.aisc.org/a1085. of members and connections shall be consistent with the
Bo Dowswell, P.E., Ph.D. intended behavior of the framing system and the assumptions
made in the structural analysis.” Your structural model can’t
Lateral-Torsional Buckling of use pinned web-to-chord connections to determine the force
Rectangular Bars and Rounds effects in the webs and chords if your strength calculations are
The limit shown for applying Equation F11-1 in the AISC based upon continuous connections. Whether the discrepancy
Specification is dependent on the thickness. For solid between your analysis and strength calculations is significant
round bar, should I assume the thickness to be the diam- depends on the details of your truss and analysis.
eter of the round? Finally, flexural-torsional buckling per Section E4 applies
also. The flexural-torsional buckling strength will not be
Section F11 in the AISC Specification requires you to check helped by reducing K about the x-axis.
yielding and lateral-torsional buckling. Ultimately, there is a lot of work to make what may be
The Specification states that yielding applies for rounds, a comparatively small gain. And you may be complicating
rectangular bars bent about their minor axis and rectangular the connections (which cost more) to save member weight
bars bent about their major axis that comply with the (which costs less).
following compactness limit: Brad Davis, S.E., Ph.D.
Lbd 0.08E
≤
t2 Fy
Lateral-torsional buckling will not govern the strength The complete collection of Steel Interchange questions and answers is available online.
of rounds and rectangular bars bent about their minor axis. Find questions and answers related to just about any topic by using our full-text search
capability. Visit Steel Interchange online at www.modernsteel.com.
Lateral-torsional buckling also does not apply to closed
sections. Larry Muir is director of technical assistance, Charlie Carter is vice president and chief
Carlo Lini, P.E. structural engineer, Martin Anderson is Solutions Center specialist and Carlo Lini is staff
engineer–technical assistance at AISC. Susan Burmeister, Brad Davis and Bo Dowswell are
consultants to AISC.
Fixity of Truss Web Members
The diagonal of a truss is a double-angle long-leg back- Steel Interchange is a forum to exchange useful and practical professional ideas and
to-back welded to the stem of the WT chords. The con- information on all phases of steel building and bridge construction. Opinions and
suggestions are welcome on any subject covered in this magazine.
nections are not detailed to resist moment. However, the
The opinions expressed in Steel Interchange do not necessarily represent an official position of
typical detail will provide some moment resistance. Is it the American Institute of Steel Construction and have not been reviewed. It is recognized that the
possible to determine a reduced effective length factor, K design of structures is within the scope and expertise of a competent licensed structural engineer,
architect or other licensed professional for the application of principles to a particular structure.
value, of a truss diagonal for buckling in the direction of
If you have a question or problem that your fellow readers might help you solve, please
the plane of a truss? forward it to us. At the same time, feel free to respond to any of the questions that you
have read here. Contact Steel Interchange via AISC’s Steel Solutions Center:

Your proposed approach is possible. However, I can think of a 1 E Wacker Dr., Ste. 700, Chicago, IL 60601
few potential issues. tel: 866.ASK.AISC • fax: 312.803.4709
[email protected]

april 2014