Rock Hill Mechanical Corporation was subcontracted to fabricate and install process piping for a process cooler. This project was originally designed as a stick-built project. The project mainly consisted of an ASME Vessel with field piping from the new vessel to the tie-in locations. The ASME “U” Stamped Vessel was fabricated from over 4,500 feet 304/L Stainless Steel Piping. This Vessel contains over 700 welds that were inspected by an ASME Authorized Inspector.
During the bidding process, RHMC determined that with some minor structural steel modifications, we could modularize this vessel into two module sections in our fabrication shop. Each section was 19′-2” wide by 38′ long and 12′-6″ tall. Each section weighed approximately 45,000 lbs. We hired a structural engineer to detail our steel modifications and lifting beams.
We set the two module sections that consisted of over 4,500 feet of pipe in two picks and field welded the structural steel member in 4 shifts.
Due to this being an ASME “U” Stamped Vessel, this project consisted of many quality control hold points as well as owner imposed requirements. Some of these were 100% Positive Material Identification. 100% MT/PT of the root weld as well as the final weld. In addition, 10% of all welds where radiographed on the project. Another requirement was that the wall thickness of the pipe has checking every 10 feet of pipe on the project.
