IBC special inspections for CJP and Multi-pass field welds? 1

[abusementpark]

Per Table 1704.2 in IBC 1704.2, any field welds that are complete joint penetration, multi-pass, or fillet welds greater than 5/16", require continuous inspection. I believe this means that a certified weld inspector has to be present during the entire installation of these welds.

Has this been occurring on your projects? Has this requirement caused you work to harder to avoid these type of welds?

 

[JedClampett]

We normally don't need such big welds. And you're right, it would discourage me from using them. But I wouldn't interpret Special Inspection as needing a certified weld inspector. If I had one, great. But I would use one of our regular inspectors. Of course, for CJP there are other requirements.
The code just says that the Special Inspector shall be qualified by the EOR. I might interpret it as being one of our regular guys. Some other engineer might require a Certified Weld Inspector.

 

[connectegr]

AISC Chapter N provides requirements for "perform" or "observe" of welding process. And requirements for NDT of specific welds. I have not had a project that differed to IBC for these requirements.

http://www.FerrellEngineering.com

Providing fabrication and erection efficient structural design of connections. Consulting services for structural welding and bolting.

 

[abusementpark]

In my jurisdiction, IBC is a level above AISC in the code hierarchy.

 

[darthsoilsguy2]

2012 IBC has removed this and almost all continuous steel inspections with exception of some bolt tensioning methods. This will likely be 100% adopted in whatever state you work in 2015. The AISC document will govern, which is a lot of random periodic fit-up inspections, random periodic during-weld inspections, and of course the finished weld criteria is the same as it ever was.

ICC-Structural Welding Special Inspector does not require one to be a CWI, and this cert is open to anyone to walk in and test who has $200 to burn.... CWI has experience requirements for the application, but i doubt AWS fact-checks. Either is usually written into specs.

In my region, North Carolina, this is regularly scoped and done in inspection/testing props. Owners do have choice in who they hire. I get to see competition proposals from time to time and was not surprised to see the our market leader had 1/10th the steel inspection hours of the pack. You just can't sign off on each floor of a multi-story steel building full of moment welds and in a total of 20 hrs, even by skipping ndt and continuous observations.

 

[Ron]

Be careful about "backhanded" requirements in the codes. Check Chapter 35 of the IBC and you will see that AWS D1.1 and other variants are referenced. This means they are included as if written into the code (See Chapter 1 of the code...Administration). Since they are referenced and inclusive, there is a requirement for a CWI.

 

[darthsoilsguy2]

Ron (& others), do you know anywhere that might require continuous weld inspections once IBC2012 is in effect or for jobs that don't specify SI? i ask because i was in a pre-con recently for a job that the Structural did not require Special Inspections, but in that pre-con the Structural said they expected us to perform continuous observations of welding. I said something like "i didn't think this was a special inspections job" and his response was "doesn't matter, that is still required by code".... anyway i tried to find where it would have been required besides CH 17 and didn't find anything... which is usually the case when you are trying to "Prove the Negative". just curious. (think it is related enough that i'm not threadjacking here)

 

[wannabeSE]

Darthsoilsguy2,
The 2012 IBC requires special inspections in accordance with AISC 360-10 Specification for Structural Steel Buildings ( a free download at

http://www.aisc.org/content.aspx?id=2884#spec).

Chapter N of this specification requires inspection (quality assurance) of all welds, but it uses "perform" and "observe" rather than "periodic" and "continuous". It also requires that all provisions of AWS D1.1 be met. The commentary to chapter N provides some insight to the meaning of "perform" and "observe". Bottom line: welding inspection is required but it may not need to be continuous (read the commentary to chapter N).