Surely you can design a welded connection to be more failure prone than a bolted. But that isnt the object is it. With welding only possible at edges - and cracks naturally initiating at edges - its a big mistake to ignore the need to blend stiffness gracefully.
Sure do!
Exactly... abrupt stiffness changes are stress risers. That said, we aren't building an airplane where the margins of safety are near zero so it is probably a moot point. I doubt LD is going to load this thing anywhere near ultimate or cycle it such that fatigue becomes an issue. But good design is always appreciated by those who understand why.
Uh-huh. Its sure to be strong enuf for the cycles it will see. "Ultimate" though is a neat concept if you dont fixate on it breaking, but instead sustaining damage at each stress riser when it is loaded. That small portion of material has seen its ultimate and undergone plastic strain. The beam is now bent a tiny bit, facilitated by the stress riser at way under its ultimate strength. That micro damage is the basis of fatigue.
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Oh I see now how your truck beams are going to work:cool2:. Your not going with under the rails truck beams. I wish I had done that, but I was to cheap to rent a fork lift
Are you going to power your span beam? So you don't have to pull it by hand?
