Execution and Inspection of Steel Hollow Sections Welded Joint

The hollow section welded joints require a number of actions before starting welding and appropriate supervision during this operation to achieve joints with adequate quality level, which should be confirmed by the post-completion tests. The execution of hollow section joints is associated not only with welding, but also with cutting and additional machining of edges. In some cases, weld surfacing is also applied to correct sections fit-up. Weld surfacing and thermal cutting can cause local hardening of connected elements. The welding has to be preceded by an assessment of the previous technological processes. The welded joints can be only executed on the basis of detailed Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS). It is advisable to manufacture - in accordance with previously prepared WPS - pre-production joints for testing, proving the ability of the welding personnel to execute welded joints with specified quality, using the available equipment. The quality of welded joints is proved by testing. A type of conducted tests, thus scope and type of welding defects possible to detect, depends on the weld type, wall thickness of connected elements and joint geometry. The authors’ experience indicates that the proper execution of the welded joint of hollow sections is difficult task, which often requires pre-production quality testing of the joints.