§ 723.4. Construction Methods

For any welding process, the parts to be joined by fillet welds shall be brought into as close as possible and shall not be separated more than 3/16 inch. If the separation is 1/16 inch or greater, the leg of the fillet weld shall be increased by the amount of the separation. The separation between faying surfaces of lap joints and of butt joints landing on backing strips shall not exceed 1/16 inch.

Splices of beams and girders joined by groove welds shall be carefully aligned with the center of gravity of both members coinciding or each flange vertically offset equally. Beams and girders with offset webs shall be fit with the webs aligned and the flanges offset laterally.

When flanges are offset or abutting parts differ a thickness or width by more than 1/8 inch, the joint shall be made with the slope of the weld metal to each surface, with a transition not exceeding 1 in 4.

Suitable allowance shall be made for shrinkage and the joint shall never be restrained on both sides in any welding process.

All butt splices shall be made before welding of diaframs or sway bracing in a particular section of a unit. Diaframs and sway bracing may be welded in a unit behind the splice welding to provide stability except where such welding interferes with butt splice adjustments such as at a drop-in segment of a continuous unit. All splices shall be made before welding of beams or girders to shoes.

For manual shielded metal-arc welding, the fit-up procedure listed below shall be used for manual shielded metal-arc welding of groove welds for butt joints:

Members shall be spaced to provide a 3/16 inch root opening at the nearest point. When at other parts of the joint the spacing provides up to and including a 7/16 inch opening correction may be made by buildup not exceeding 1/8 inch on each bevel nose. Openings exceeding 7/16 inch shall require rebeveling of the joint to bring it within the maximum buildup limits prescribed above. Build must be allowed to cool before proceeding with the welding.

All members shall be brought into correct alignment and held in position by acceptable clamps while being welded.

Deviations from the above fit-up procedure shall be approved by the Engineer.