Cracks
Cracks … Have always been a key point in structural failures, Cracks can and will happen, the main point is how frequent and where?
Cracks can be detected visually, Using NDT methods or even after failure, Yet we need to know where to look for cracks, How often should we look, and how to detect them.
On older design of structures that were copied (Sister units), and by experience and failures, we may know where to expect cracks, yet on newer designs where it has never been tested, Here comes the tricky part!
We can review the design loads and higher points of stresses to decide where we can look for cracks, also, we can expect some production quality issues, that we need to monitor during manufacturing, construction, welding and repair.