The Significance of Weld Continuities Regarding Plastic Failure

The answer to whether weld discontinuities affect the correct functioning of welded joints, depends on the demands made on those joints, the extent of the weld discontinuities and the mechanical properties of the weld metal and the base metal. In Sect. 2, a summary is given of the demands which are made on welded structures. Section 3 demonstrates briefly how the "Design rules for arc-welded connections in steel submitted to static loads"1 meet these demands. The influence of weld discontinuities will then be discussed. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are made.