Weldment Design for RHS Truss Connections. I: Applications

Abstract

Recent International Institute of Welding/Eurocode 3 (IIW/EC3) recommendations for welding rectangular hollow‐section (RHS) truss connections are shown to be too simplistic since they do not consider the special aspects of a weld connector at a gapped or overlapped truss connection. Furthermore, these weldment recommendations are generally conservative and not consistent with the design approach of national welding and structural codes in that weld size requirements are related to the full strength of members with no consideration of actual member forces. This paper reviews codified formulas for the design of individual fillet weldments in steel made by arc welding. Next, design recommendations pertinent to fillet weldments in rectangular hollow‐section truss connections are reviewed and shown to result in quite different weld proportions. The paper concludes with design examples and thereby offers preferred design approaches. A companion paper deals with experimental work used to verify the effective weld length concept for flexible rectangular hollow‐section connections necessary for the weldment design examples.