INTRODUCTION

ANSI/AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code, is prepared by the AWS Structural Welding Committee. Because the Code is written in the form of a specification, it cannot present background material or discuss the committee's intent.

Since the publication of the first edition of the Code, the nature of inquires directed to the American Welding Society and the Structural Welding Committee has indicated that there are some requirements in the Code that are either difficult to understand or not sufficiently specific, and others that appear to be overly conservative.

It should be recognized that the fundamental premise of the Code is to provide general stipulations applicable to any situation and to leave sufficient latitude for the exercise of engineering judgement. Another point to be recognized is that the Code represents the collective experience of the committee; and, while some provisions may seem overly conservative, they have been based on sound engineering practice.

The format of this document presents Code interpretations grouped according to the Code date. Individual inquires for the specific issue date of the Code are arranged by the applicable section number within the code. To assist the reader, an index is provided that is compiled by subject matter; and a second index is provided that supplies the various section numbers referenced in the document in numerical order, regardless of Code date.

Readers are reminded that the basic format of the Code was reorganized extensively in the 1996 edition. Therefore, the provision numbers of the interpretations included herein in most cases will not be similar to the provision numbers of editions for 1996 or later.

Recent official interpretations of ANSI/AWS D1.1 technical requirements are published regularly in the July and November issues of the AWS Welding Journal Original requests for official interpretation of any Code requirement shall be submitted in writing to the Managing Director of Technical Services, American Welding Society, 550 N.W. Lejeune Road, Miami, Florida 33126.