The Challenge of Determining the Root Cause of Cracking in Thick and Restrained Joints

While many clients seek to pinpoint a singular cause for cracking of welds, it can rarely be attributed to one single mistake. Most often, a crack is produced in a “perfect storm” of errors made during the design, procurement, and execution phases of fabrication. Individually, these oversights would be unlikely to cause weld failures but, combined, they can cause disastrous results to any welding operation, even in reputable shops. …