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Blind bolt failure on offshore platform

Report ID: cross170

Published: Newsletter No 17 - January 2010

Source: CROSS

Report Content

A reporter describes how there was a recent failure on an offshore platform of a 20 tonne winch base under load testing. No injuries, but significant business impact. Failure occurred in tension of a holding down arrangement of blind bolts which were of the locking pin/cam variety. There were three primary causes of the failure, two of which related to competence and checking of calculations. However the third cause was concluded to result from the presentation quality of the downloadable information on the manufacturer’s website, which led to confusion by the designer between ultimate and allowable capacities. The failure also raised concerns over the application of blind bolts in tension where failure is rapid and catastrophic, with no ductile warning of overload.

Comments

Details on the cause of failure are not known but clarity of information on manufacturers’ websites is a concern. The web is unregulated and it requires experience to write technical information unambiguously and to include all relevant material; at the very least this requires input from a competent structural engineer. However, it is for users to ensure they are satisfied with the data presented and for manufacturers to ensure they have correctly presented their material: their reputation will depend upon it. Issues around blind bolts have been raised previously: see CROSS reports 71, 86, and 113 which are in the data base on the website (found by searching for “blind bolts”). One of the aims of CROSS is have such data available so that future failures of the same type can be avoided.

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