A good shop practice is to include the HAZ and or soaking pre-heat distances in your inspections. Granted, HAZ cracking is immediately adjacent to the initial weld bead, so you will be looking there anyway but let's say you are working on thick material and the pre-heat procedure calls for measuring the temperature at a distance of 6" from the weld. I interpret that 6" on both sides of the weld joint as part of welding "operation", so I look for things like handling or alignment scars as well as grinding scars and arc strikes. Likewise if I happen to notice anything visual in an area I'm not specifically focusing my work in I'll at least mark it and notify my customer verbally. Once while inspecting attachment clips on a pressure vessel I noticed a thread-o-let that was was missing the threads. Both the welder and the layout guy missed it, and likely it would have not been noticed until it moved into hydro-test bay.
By js55
Date 07-06-2016 12:20
Edited 07-06-2016 12:26
HJLBX,
No. It says 'should', not shall.
API 1104 20th Edition
"The face of the completed weld should be approximately1/8" wider than the width of the original groove".
Notice the language does not say bead. If the original groove is an 1 1/2" the bead can then be an 1 3/4" wide.
This language was also reaffirmed in the 21st Edition. And for good reason. It says EXACTLY what they intend.
That table in D1.1 only specifies weld width in regards to Pre-Quals and WPSs. There really is nothing else in D1.1 or D1.5 that specify a maximum groove weld width over the groove opening width.
And yes, API 1104 only recommends that the weld be an 1/8" wider than the groove opening width. Which D1.1 does in a fashion (though not a specific measurement), in that the cross section cannot be larger than the weld face.