Official interpretations of AWS standards are made by the committee that is responsible for the standard in response to written inquiries. For procedures on preparing an official interpretation, please refer to the Informative Annex, Guidelines for the Preparation of Technical Inquiries, within your standard.

The activities of AWS technical committees regarding interpretations are limited strictly to the interpretation of provisions of standards prepared by the committees or to consideration of revisions to existing provisions on the basis of new data or technology. Neither AWS staff nor the committees are in a position to offer interpretive or consulting services on (1) specific engineering problems, (2) requirements of standards applied to fabrications outside the scope of the document, or (3) points not specifically covered by the standard. In such cases, the inquirer should seek assistance from a competent engineer experienced in the particular field of interest.

The following interpretations apply to the edition referenced in the interpretation form.