I have an HSS box beam 20x12x.500" x 20', tapered from 20" to 12" and a .500" x 12" plate 3/8 PJP to the top. Of course, it curled up pretty good, 40' of weld will do that, and after straightening it in a press, I found a couple of half inch long cracks in the face of one of the welds. I am Owners Rep doing visual inspection of shop fab, I am not NDT certified, I call in one of our ndt guys as needed for MT/UT. All PJP gets MT. He already tested it, yeah I know I should have waited till after they straightened it. Here's my question...5.26.1.4 mandates use of positive means to determine the extent of the crack, can I MT this myself, just to figure how much they need to dig out? My ndt guy wont be back till Tuesday, at which time he can do the 'official' test, but I want it clean when he gets there, don't want to have to dig at it any more. Oh, and this thing is cantilevered off of an EBF column, and I have FEMA requirements. What do yall think?
To my knowledge there is nothing prohibiting you from doing any "unofficial" inspection. However; repairs are another story, if you act on that unofficial exam, I don't think I would want to be in that particular grey area.
As the owner's representative, are you acting as Quality Assurance or Quality Control? Are you on the job to protect the owner's interest or to act as the fabricator's consultant? Is the fabricator performing any visual inspections or other quality control functions?
If you are acting as Quality Assurance, perhaps the fabricator should be responsible for assessing the extent of the cracks and developing the repair procedure. You've done your part in identifying the problem, now let the fabricator do what is necessary to facilitate the repair in accordance with the applicable code requirements. That may require the fabricator to hire someone to provide the NDT services and possibly a welding consultant if the repair is complex.
As a third party inspector, acting on behalf of the owner, you don't want to put yourself in the position of telling the fabricator how to correct the problem and getting "hung" with the liability should something go wrong.
Every situation is different. You may have a very good working relationship with the fabricator, but I've seen several well meaning inspectors cross over the line by offering advice to the fabricator only to get "hung out to dry" by the fabricator after the fact. It would be a different story and my opinion would be different if you were retained by the fabricator.
Best regards - Al
I agree; if you are a third party inspector, I would merely report the issues and not get into production issues. Who has responsibility for the crack repairs? I assume the fabricator will make the repair so I would think they should come up with a repair procedure and the owner should review/approve it. It probably is not a good idea to perform informational NDE on the work to verify crack removal. I think the fabricator should perform the informational NDE, if any is done, but if possible I would let the designated NDE persons do it all.
It is understandable that the cracking was unexpected and that the faster it can be resolved the better it will be for everyone. Just remember, though, what is the impact to schedule and cost if a mistake is made that causes a longer delay?
Duke, don't take this personally, but it sounds like to me that your playing CYA because you've already accepted the welds. The fact is, youve done just what you were suppose to do. They welded it, you did the visual and then had the MT done, it passed. Then the fabricator tries to take the warp out and fills the weld with stress cracks. As the SI, you would have performed another visual along the weld after this additional process by the fabricator, So, you did, then you find the damage. My advice to you would be this, Find all the cracks you can visually, mark them up and write the tube as non compliant and explain the details in your daily report. I can only assume that the fabricator has no one to do their NDE and that your company has undertaken this responsibility. So do it. Get your MT guy back in there, find the cracks, fix them, and get the piece out the door. Thats your job! It doesn't matter if their going to shove this thing up the devils butt, it's your responsibility to make sure that it's in right condition when they do it. You asked what I thought. Wayne
I would ask that the entire length be MT tested again. If you have cracks that made it to the surface, you also have the possibility that many other cracks have developed, but not made it to the surface. If you only test the cracks that you can see, you might miss some that you can't.
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