Machine down time as well as repair and maintenance of structural components are costly and difficult to manage due to size, weight, and expertise to repair at site. Considering fabricated structures being back bone of any machinery, this work deals with analysis and action to eliminate critical failure of specific joint which are narrow grove joints, by detecting potential defects using Phase Array Ultrasonic testing methodology. The circular joint discussed in this article was welded with semiautomatic setup and has probability of weld defects, because of narrow and shallow joint design. Design change for ease of manufacturability was also not feasible due to excessive cost of die change and machining process involved. Even if design changes could be done, it was not feasible to check joint using conventional non-destructive inspection methods due to thickness limitation of parent materials constituting the joint. In absence of proper inspection methodology, defects were not arrested inside circular weld joint of boom foot boss and resulting in premature failures of boom at field. Through this investigation technique of Phase array, failures were eliminated and enhanced the overall structure of life.

Fabricated structure; boom; boom foot boss; weld defect; phase array ultrasonic testing.