WJS Manchester Branch

Welded Structures, Risk & the Law
by Mr Michael Burdekin

29th April 2008 - Helmsley House, Salford

The design and construction of major welded structures is a very expensive exercise. Regrettably, occasionally things may go wrong, leading perhaps to contractual delays or even to a structural failure and the potential consequences of significant additional costs or loss of life. The lecture was illustrated with examples of magnificent welded structures and with four examples of cases where 'failures' of different types occurred leading to legal proceedings between the parties involved.

1. A dispute over a fleet of 520 ferritic stainless steel coal wagons of ~100 tonne capacity, where cracking developed partly from material/welding problems and partly from design problems.
2. A welding problem during construction of a prestige bridge, which was essentially a dispute over design of the welded connections leading to lamellar tearing problems.
3. A stress corrosion-cracking problem in a ferritic steel pipeline involving deceit over the test certificates by the steel manufacturer.
4. Fatigue cracking problems in an architectural sculpture due to a combination of wind induced vibration and poor quality fabrication.

The technical circumstances underlying each of these cases was outlined together with a description of the arguments presented in the legal cases and the way in which a decision was reached by the law. The differing legal procedures of Meditation, Adjudication, Arbitration & Full court proceedings.

The meeting was absorbed and enjoyed by all and could be described as a 'cracking lecture'!