Studies On Behaviour And Design Of Multi-Orientation Fillet Weld Connections

The fact that the difference in ductility and strength can be quite large for welds ofdifferent orientations could have a significant impact on the behaviour of connectionsthat combine fillet welds of multiple orientations(MOFW connections),it must be takeninto account during the designation of MOFW connection.Because of the difference inductility,there is potential for MOFW connections to fail before all the welds in theconnection reach their full capacity, this has aroused the concern of many scholars.Analysis on welded lapped splice connections containing a transverse weld incombination with longitudinal welds was conducted to investigate the effect of weldductility on MOFW connections in this paper.Anlysis results show that the strength ofthe MOFW connection is lower than the sum of the ultimate capacity of the individualweld segments.Although considering the effect of the difference in ductility andstrength,the strength of the MOFW connection is still lower.It indicates that there musthave been other mechanisms affecting MOFW connection capacity.Further researchsuggests that the behaviour of the fillet weld segments in MOFW connection isdifferent from that in the SOFW (Single Orientation Fillet Weld) connection due to theweld segments are continuous on the corner of the lapping plate.This also decreases thecapacity of the MOFW connection.Based on a series of analysis,the design procedures of the MOFW connection wassuggested.According to it,the reasonable ratio of fillet weld length between thelongitudinal weld segments and the transverse weld segments in the TL connection canmake the connection more effective.Here,the TL connection means the combination of a transverse weld segment and two longitudinal weld segments.