In many cases it may be is less expensive to use a double sided filet welds instead of a complete joint penetration (CJP) groove welds. A fillet weld, like a CJP weld, can be sized to develop the full strength of the connection plate in either shear or tension. When the Engineer of Record indicates a CJP weld (for example a flange plate of a moment connection), it is possibly for the fabricator to successfully substitute of fillet weld. We have found that the easiest way to do these calculations is to have the fillet weld size expressed as a fraction of the plate thickness (such as W = 5/8t for shear tabs). The table below summarizes the different configurations and allows the user to easily determine the fillet weld size to use instead of specifying a CJP weld. Table: Fillet Weld Size to replace a CJP Weld
