Residual stresses and deformations due to welding have effects on the strength of structures. In this paper, the compressive strength of basic welded structures is studied and the effects of the residual stresses and deformations on the compressive strength of beams, plates and shells are investigated,. Theoretical analysis for the basic structures is carried out and simplified methods to calculate the compressive strength are proposed. The proposed methods yield simple formulas to calculate the compressive strength, of which results are much helpful. The accuracy of the proposed method is revealed by comparison with experimental results.