Lloyd's Approach to Quality Assurance of Welded Structures

Lloyd's Register has been in existence for over two hundred years, primarily with the object of ensuring that the construction of ships and subsequent condition throughout service is to a satisfactory standard. During the last fifty years, this service has been extended to include the inspection of equipment intended for major projects such as gas, oil and petrochemical complexes, as well as nuclear, hydro-electric and fossil fuel power generation units.

The paper outlines the Society's general approach to quality assurance and the controls necessary to ensure product adequacy for the intended use at the specific design conditions and for the required period of service.

Reference is made to design, material choice, method of manufacture, fabrication and welding procedures, inspection and testing during manufacture and in-service inspection and maintenance. Recent problems encountered during heavy fabrication, detection of imperfections by non-destructive examination and the evaluation of their significance towards failure are discussed.