37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 623WELDING PROBLEMS IN TALL COMMUNICATIONTOWERSP. VeronDepartment of Transportes, Proyectos y ProcesosUniversity of Cantabriae-mail: veronj@unican.esKey words: tall communication tower, welding, stress relief heat treatment, brittle fracture, toughness,critical flaw.AbstractSeveral decades ago a designer specified a stress relief heat treatment (about 600ºC) to thebottom welds of a tall communication tower because of their greater thickness of the steelplates. However this practice was not possible for the last bottom welds that were supportingthe tower weight and will distort and originate residual stresses. Our help was required todetermine if this post weld heat treatment could be avoided without compromising theintegrity of the construction. Our previous experiences with steel weldments together with thedetermination of the critical equivalent flaws of the tower according to BS PD6493.1980standard allowed us to assess that this stress relief heat treatment was not necessary.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 247