Welded hot-rolled high-strength steel structural members and methods

A welded high-strength steel structural member comprising

• a welded hot-rolled high-strength steel elongated structural member having a tensile strength of at least about 120,000 psi and a yield strength of at least about 90,000 psi having a length and a uniform cross-sectional configuration formed by welding a first separate structural unit to a second separate structural unit, the first unit having a web portion and a first flange portion, the second unit having a web portion and second flange portion, each unit having a length and an L-shaped cross-section along the complete unit length, the welded uniform cross-sectional configuration comprising a welded continuous web portion connecting said first and second flange portions each having an average thickness and extending at about a 90° angle from opposite ends of said welded web portion, each said first and second flange portion intersects the web portion to form a corner having inner and outer radii, said welded web portion having an average thickness less than the average thickness of said first and second flange portions,
• wherein the weld joins said web portions of said first and second structural units together and completely extends along the length of the uniform cross-sectional configuration of said welded structural member between said first and second flange portions at a neutral axis of said member,
• said welded continuous web portion thickness providing weight savings in said welded structural member with essentially no strength compromise uniformly along the member length as shown by the calculation for comparative section modulus (ΔSM) of said welded structural member when compared to a baseline structural member with a web portion and extending flanges having the same thickness,
• said first and second flange portions providing with the welded web portion load bearing capacity to said welded structural member.