Structural steel fabrication

FABRICATION PROCEDURE
Structural steel fabrication can be carried out in shop or at the construction site. Fabrication of steel work carried out in shops is precise and of assured quality, whereas field fabrication is comparatively of inferior in quality. In India construction site fabrication is most common even in large projects due to inexpensive field labour, high cost of transportation, difficulty in the transportation of large members, higher excise duty on products from shop. Beneficial taxation for site work is a major financial incentive for site fabrication. The methods followed in site fabrication are similar but the level of sophistication of equipment at site and environmental control would be usually less. The skill of personnel at site also tends to be inferior and hence the quality of finished product tends to be relatively inferior. However, shop fabrication is efficient in terms of cost, time and quality.

Structural steel passes through various operations during the course of its fabrication. Generally, the sequence of activities in fabricating shops is as shown in Table1. The sequence and importance of shop operations will vary depending on the type of fabrication required. All these activities are explained briefly in the subsequent parts of the section.