×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Welding in a tight space

Welding in a tight space

Welding in a tight space

(OP)
I find myself working on repair plans for a series of structural problems at a recently completed building containing a certain big box retailer. Neither the original designer nor the original contractor is available to me (in case something goes to court), but—at least to my eye—the plans look complete, correct, and easy to build from. Nevertheless, there are now engineers and contractors working their way through the building finding and (hopefully) fixing errors.

My current problem involves the roof framing. Like almost every other big box, there are steel girder bar joists spanning wall to column to column, etc. with k-series steel joists the other way, and corrugated steel on the joists. The plans call for every k-joist to be welded to the girder that it bears on, as well as for the ends of the joists to be connected to each other through a weld to an 18” splice angle. There are several locations where these connections weren’t made. It’s on the order of dozen out of a few hundred. In many of these locations, the erection bolts that were supposed to temporarily connect the joists to the girder during construction are still there.

So the question is, how likely is it that I can send a welder up there to complete the detail as per the original plan? It was an easy build originally before the decking was down, but now there is only the 2” joist top chord depth of space to work in. You really can’t even see the connection unless you put your head sideways against the ceiling. The question ultimately is, “in how tight of a space can you effectively weld?” I guess a follow up question might be “considering the infrequency of this problem, do I really need to fix it?”

RE: Welding in a tight space

Consider a modified connection at the bottom of the top chord to the edge of the flange.  Lesser length of weld available but perhaps sufficient with a thicker weld and easier to access.

RE: Welding in a tight space

(OP)
Right. I was pressed to supply a detail this morning, and that's pretty much what I did: plate that welds to everything. I think I was thinking too hard about it.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources