The rotary straightening process used by steel rolling mills to straighten rolled sections cold works the webs of these shapes in and near the -area. This cold working can result in an increase in hardness, yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and yield-to-tensile ratio, and a decrease in notch toughness. In some instances, Charpy V-notch toughness has been recorded to be less than 2 ft-lb at at (Barsom and Korvink, 1998). These changes do not negatively influence the in-service behavior of uncracked shapes. However, the potential for post-fabrication -area base metal cracking exists in highly restrained joints at the weld terminations for column continuity plates, web doublers, and thermal cut coped beams.
When the minimum clip dimensions are used along the member web, the available continuity plate length must be considered in the design and detailing of the welds to the web. For fillet welds, the fillet weld should be held back one to two weld sizes from each clip. For groove welds, weld tabs should not be used in the -area because they could cause base metal fracture from the combination of weld shrinkage, the stress concentration/notch effect at the weld end, and the low notch-toughness web material.
When the maximum clip dimensions are used along the member flange, the width, hence the capacity, of the continuity plate is not reduced substantially. Care must be used in making quality weld terminations near the member radius, as the use of common weld tabs is difficult. If used, their removal in this region may damage the base metal, necessitating difficult repairs. The use of cascaded ends within the weld groove may be used within the dimensional limits stated. Because of the incomplete filling of the groove, the unusual configuration of the weld, and the relatively low level of demand placed upon the weld at this location, nondestructive testing of cascaded weld ends in groove welds at this location is not required.