D1.8 Seismic Supplement Welding Manual

The provisions within FEMA 353 were not binding but did become mandatory when incorporated into Contract Documents.

While the FEMA recommendations were being drafted, the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the American Welding Society (AWS) began to evaluate their specifications and codes and revise them to incorporate the post-Northridge research on steel connections. AISC issued a variety of interim updates to the Seismic Provisions, as well as complete new editions of the standard. Contained in these AISC documents are a variety of welding-related provisions. The primary focus of the AISC Seismic Provisions, however, is on the design of structures intended to resist seismically induced loads, including the design of the connections and thus, some welding-related provisions.

During this same time period, the AWS D1 Structural Welding Committee formed a new subcommittee D1L, charged with the responsibility of developing a new standard to address welding-related requirements for buildings designed to resist seismically induced loads. Ultimately, this subcommittee produced and the D1 committee approved, AWS D1.8 Structural Welding Code-Seismic Supplement2.

Many of the changes made to the AISC and AWS standards were the direct result of the work sponsored by FEMA. Some of the provisions directly reflect the recommendations of FEMA 353. In other cases, the initial recommendations were modified by the AISC and AWS consensus committees. Finally, some FEMA 353 recommendations deemed to be unnecessary by the AISC or AWS committees were eliminated.

The FEMA-sponsored effort focused on moment-resisting connections, whereas the AISC and AWS documents addressed other Seismic Force Resisting Systems (SFRS), thus justifying some additional provisions that were not contained within FEMA 353. Therefore, these latest documents do more than simply incorporate FEMA 353 provisions directly into AISC or AWS specifications.

AWS D1.8 was approved in 2005 and first printed and distributed in 2006. In 2009 the AWS published the second edition of the AWS D1.8/D1.8M, Structural Welding Code - Seismic Supplement. Subsequent revisions have also been made to this document.