stress range categories for fatigue design of splices
 

stress range categories for fatigue design of splices
in our canadian welding code csa w59 the stress range category for the weld metal and base metal at a splice (ex.8)in a plate made with a complete penetration groove weld is a category b or c in the text description and illustrations. to qualify for these categories it is necessary to do ndt. assume the actual stress range at a splice is half that required for a category c. why is there no lower category, d or e which doesn't require ndt ? am i obligated to treat every splice as a c as a minimum, even when the stress range is very low. the application i have in mind is for the flanges of a built- up beam for a crane ruinway where a splice nearer the ends might be at lower stress ranges.
i would appreciate an answer from members who work with the fatigue provisions of aws d1.1, as our codes, i believe are very similar.