AASHTO/AWS D1.5M/D1.5:2015 PARTO
INSPECTION
PartD
Weld Acceptance Criteria
6.26 Quality oC Welds
6.26.1 Visual Inspection. All welds shall be visually
inspected. A weld shall be acceptable by visual inspec-
tion if it conforms to the following requirements:
6.26.1.1 The weld shaH have no cracks.
6.26.1.2 Thorough fusion shall exist between adjacent
layers of weld metal and between weld metal and base
metal.
6.26.1.3 All craters are to be filled to the full cross
section of the weld, except for the ends of intermittent
fillet welds outside of their effective length when such
welds are allowed in the designo
6.26.1.4 Weld profiles shaH be in conformance with
3.6.
6.26.1.5 Undercut AlIowance. Except when weld
reinforcement is reguired to be removed, undercut limits
shall be as follows:
ill Undercut in main members, undercut shall be no
more than 0.25 mm [0.01 in] deep when the weld is
transverse to tensile stress under any design loading con-
dition.
ill Undercut in all other cases shall be no more than
1 mm [1132 in] deep for aH other cases.
6.26.1.6 The frequency of piping porosity in the sur-
face of fillet welds shall not exceed one in 100 mm [4 in]
or six in 1200 mm [4 ft] ofweld length and the maximum
diameter shall not exceed 2.4 mm [3/32 in].
(1) A subsurface inspection for porosity shall be per-
formed whenever piping porosity 2.4 mm [3/32 in] 01'
larger in diameter extends to the surface at intervals of
300 mm [12 in] 01' less ayer a distance of 1200 mm
[4 ft], 01' when the condition of electrodes, flux, base
metal, 01' the presence of weld cracking indicates that
there may be a problem with piping 01' gross porosity.
(2) This subsurface inspection shall be a visual
inspection of 300 mm [12 in] exposed lengths of the fillet
weld throat after it has been ground 01' removed by air
carbon arc gouging to a depth of 1/2 the design throat.
When viewed at mid-throat of the weld, the sum of the
diameters of all porosity shall not exceed 10 mm [3/8 in]
in any 25 mm [1 in] length of weld 01' 20 mm [3/4 in] in
any 300 mm [12 in] length of weld.
149
CLAUSE 6.
6.26.1.7 A fillet weld in any single continuous weld
may underrun the nominal fillet weld size specified by
2 mm [1/16 in] without correction, provided that the
undersize portion ofthe weld does not exceed 10% ofthe
length of the weld. On the web-to-flange welds on gird-
ers, underrun shall be prohibited at the ends for a length
equal to twice the width of the flange.
6.26.1.8 CJP groove welds in butt joints transverse to
the direction of computed tensile stress shall have no
piping porosity. For all other groove welds, the fre-
quency of piping porosity shall not exceed one in 100 mm
[4 in] of length, and the maximum diameter shall not
exceed 2.4 mm [3/32 in].
6.26.1.9 Visual inspection of welds in all steels may
begin immediately after the completed welds have
cooled to ambient temperature. Acceptance criteria for
M 270MlM 270 (A709/A709M) Grade HPS 690W [HPS
100W] steel shall be based on visual inspection per-
formed not less than 48 hours after completion of the
weld.
6.26.2 RT and MT Inspection. Welds that are subject to
RT 01' MT in addition to visual inspection shall have no
cracks and shall be unacceptable if the RT 01' MT shows
any of the types of discontinuities described in 6.26.2.1,
6.26.2.2, 6.26.2.3, 01' 6.26.2.4.
6.26.2.1 For welds subject to tensile stress under any
condition of loading, the greatest dimension of any poros-
ity 01' fusion-type discontinuity that is 2 mm [1/16 in] 01'
larger in greatest dimension shall not exceed the size, B,
indicated in Figure 6.8 for the effective throat 01' weld
size involved. The distance from any porosity 01' fusion-
type discontinuity described aboye to another sllch dis-
continuity, to an edge, 01' to the toe 01' root of any inter-
secting flange~to-web weld shall be not less than the
minimum clearance allowed, e, indicated in Figure 6.8
for the size of discontinuity under examination.
6.26.2.2 For welds subject only to compressive stress
and specifically indicated as such on the design draw-
ings, the greatest dimension of porosity 01' a fusion-type
discontinuity that is 3 mm [1/8 in] 01' larger in greatest
dimension shall not exceed the size, B, nor shall the
space between adjacent discontinuities be less than the
minimum clearance allowed, e, indicated by Figure 6.9
for the size of discontinuity under examination.
6.26.2.3 Independent of the requirements of 6.26.2.1
and 6.26.2.2, discontinuities having a greatest dimension
of less than 2 mm [1/16 in] shall be unacceptable if the
sum of their greatest dimensions exceeds 10 mm [3/8 in]
in any 25 mm [1 in] length of weld.
CLAUSE 6. INSPECTION
6.26.2.4 The limitations given by Figures 6.8 and 6.9
for 38 mm [1-112 in] weld size shall apply to all weld
sizes greater than 38 mm [1-112 in].
6.26.2.5 Annex L illustrates the application of the
requirements given in 6.26.2.1.
6.26.3 UT
6.26.3.1 Welds that are subject to UT in addition to
visual inspection shall be acceptable if they meet the fol-
lowing requirements:
(1) Welds subject to tensile stress under any condi-
tion of loading shall conform to the requirements of
Table 6.3.
(2) Welds subject to compressive stress shall con-
form to the requirements of Table 6.4.
6.26.3.2 Ultrasonically tested welds are evaluated on
the basis of a discontinuity reflecting ultrasound in pro-
portion to its effect on the integrity of the weld.
(1) Indications of discontinuities that remain on the
screen as the search unit is moved towards and away
from the discontinuity (scanning movement "b") may be
indicative of planar discontinuities with significant flaw
height dimensiono
(2) As the orientation of such discontinuities, relative
lO the sound beam, deviates from the perpendicular, dB
ratings that do not allow direct, reliable evaluation of the
weldedjoint integrity may result.
(3) When indications that exhibit these planar charac-
teristics are present at scanning sensitivity, a more
PARTD AASHTO/AWS D1.5M/D1.5:2015
detailed evaluation of the discontinuity by other means
may be required (e.g., alternate UT techniques, RT,
grinding, or gouging for visual inspection, etc.).
6.26.3.3 CJP groove web-to-flange welds shall con-
form to the requirements ofTable 6.4, and acceptance for
discontinuities detected by scanning movements other
than scanning pattern "E" (see 6.24.2.2) may be based on
a weld thickness equal to the actual web thickness plus
25 mm [1 in].
(1) Discontinuities detected by scanning pattern E
shalI be evaluated to the criteria of 6.26.3.1 for the actual
web thickness.
(2) When such web-to-flange welds are subject to
calculated tensile stress normal to the weldaxis, they
shall be so designated on design drawings and shall con-
form to the requirements of Table 6.3.
6.26.4 PT. Welds that are subject to PT, in addition to
visual inspection, shall be evaluated on the basis of the
requirements for visual inspection.
6.26.5 Timing of NDT
6.26.5.1 When welds are subject to NDT in conform-
ance with 6.26.2, 6.26.3, and 6.26.4, the testing may
begin immediately after the completed welds have
cooled to ambient temperature.
6.26.5.2 Acceptance of welds in M 270M/M 270
(A709/A709M) Grade HPS 690W [HPS 100W] steel
shall be based on NDT performed not less than 48 hours
after completion of the welds.
150