One of many additional services that Rilmac Fabrication offer is a Proof Load Test facility.  This is a process designed to show the durability of a manufactured product and also to give proof the weight it can support.  One recent project has seen Rilmac testing steel transportation units to weights in excess of 16 tonnes.

The units, specialist steel packing crates designed to transport gas turbine engines, are manufactured with two main components; a sturdy base and a large casing which is secured by M12 swing bolts.  The objective of the test was two-fold, to ensure the structural stability of the steelwork, and to prove the strength of the fixings.

Two units were loaded with 2.2 tonne concrete blocks and then bolted together.  An independent inspector ensured accurate readings as each unit was lifted by crane.  Both passed easily with no issues regarding the steelwork or bolts having been suspended for five minutes at over 16.3 tonnes.

It is a standard part of Proof Load Testing that the fabrications can take a third more weight than the final load.  On this occasion the gas turbine engines to be transported will have a maximum weight of 12 tonnes.  Also, NDT (non-destructive testing) was passed both before and after the Proof Load Testing ensuring the integrity of the steel and manufacturing process.

“Although we were sure we’d pass today,” said Simon Currie, Rilmac Fabrication Workshop Manager, “it is always gratifying to have independent proof.  Thank you to Andrew Barristor of Humberside Lifting & Testing, along with Craig Lyon of S Lyons & Sons, for coming down and working on this with us.”