Sheet Steel Welding

Light, cold formed steel sections have been arc welded without the benefit of a general guiding specification for many years. By the late 1960's the structural use of the fastening was sufficient to create a demand for a more systematic approach. In a series of tests at Cornell University, the behavior of the most common types of arc welds in sheet steel has been studied, and strength prediction equations have been derived. The strength prediction equations can be converted into design equations through the use of appropriate safety factors. Except for the case of the arc spot welds, the correlation between the test results and the computed results is quite satisfactory. In the case of the arc spot welds, the variability of the quality of welds has led to a rather large scatter in the test results.