Development of an Effective ASME IX Welding Procedure Qualification Program for Pipeline Facility and Fabrication Welding

Author(s):  
Junfang Lu ◽  
Bob Huntley ◽  
Luke Ludwig

For cross country pipeline welding in Canada, welding procedures shall be qualified in accordance with the requirements of CSA Z662 Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems. For pipeline facility and fabrication welding on systems designed in accordance with CSA Z662 or ASME B31.4, welding procedures qualified in accordance with the requirements of ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code Section IX are permitted and generally preferred. Welding procedures qualified in accordance with ASME IX provide advantages for pipeline facility and fabrication applications as a result of the flexibility achieved through the larger essential variable ranges. The resulting welding procedures have broader coverage on material thickness, diameter, joint configuration and welding positions. Similarly, ASME IX is more flexible on welder performance qualification requirements and accordingly a welder will have wider range of performance qualifications. When applied correctly, the use of ASME IX welding procedures often means significantly fewer welding procedures and welder performance qualifications are required for a given scope of work. Even though ASME IX qualified welding procedures have been widely used in pipeline facility and fabrication welding, it is not well understood on how to qualify the welding procedures in accordance with ASME IX and meet the additional requirements of the governing code or standard such as CSA Z662 in Canada. One significant consideration is that ASME IX refers to the construction code for the applicability of notch toughness requirements for welding procedure qualification, yet CSA Z662 and ASME B31.4 are both silent on notch toughness requirements for welding procedure qualification. This paper explains one preferred method to establish and develop an effective ASME IX welding procedure qualification program for pipeline facility and fabrication welding while ensuring suitability for use and appropriate notch toughness requirements. The paper discusses topics such as base material selection, welding process, welding consumable consideration and weld test acceptance criteria.

Author(s):  
Ganesan S. Marimuthu ◽  
Per Thomas Moe ◽  
Bjarne Salberg ◽  
Junyan Liu ◽  
Henry Valberg ◽  
...  

Forge welding is an efficient welding method for tubular joints applicable in oil and gas industries due to its simplicity in carrying out the welding, absence of molten metal and filler metals, small heat-affected zone and high process flexibility. Prior to forging, the ends (bevels) of the joining tubes can be heated by torch or electromagnetic (EM) techniques, such as induction or high frequency resistance heating. The hot bevels are subsequently pressed together to establish the weld. The entire welding process can be completed within seconds and consistently produces superior quality joints of very high strength and adequate ductility. Industrial forge welding of tubes in the field is relatively expensive compared to laboratory testing. Moreover, at the initial stages of a new project sufficient quantities of pipe material may not be available for weldability testing. For these and several other reasons we have developed a highly efficient single station, solid state welding machine that carefully replicates the thermomechanical conditions of full-scale Shielded Active Gas Forge Welding Machines (SAG-FWM) for pipeline and casing applications. This representative laboratory machine can be used to weld tubular goods, perform material characterization and/or simulate welding and heat treatment procedures. The bevel shapes at mating ends of the tubes are optimized by ABAQUS® simulations to fine tune temperature distribution. The main aim of this paper is to establish a welding procedure for welding the tubular joints by the representative laboratory machine. The quality of the welded tubular joint was analyzed by macro/micro analyses, as well as hardness and bend tests. The challenges in optimizing the bevel shape and process parameters to weld high quality tubular joints are thoroughly discussed. Finally a welding procedure specification was established to weld the tubular joints in the representative laboratory machine.


Author(s):  
Yu-Ping Yang ◽  
Zhenning Cao ◽  
Jerry Gould ◽  
Tom McGaughy ◽  
Jon Jennings

A Microsoft Excel-based screening tool was developed to allow an engineer with weld process knowledge to predict cooling rate and hardness during welding procedure qualifications to screen a combination of materials and welding process parameters quickly to meet requirements of fabrication and design codes. The material properties for commonly used pipeline steels have been built into a database coupled with the screening tool. The Excel-based tool includes a physics-based laser and arc welding solution which was developed based on Rosenthal’s mathematical equations for a point heat source to predict thermal cycles by inputting welding parameters. A reflecting heat source scheme was adapted to model the boundary conditions and plate thickness effect on cooling rate. The Excel-based tool also includes a microstructure model which was developed based on the Ashby model. The microstructure model can be used to predict the distributions of individual phases such as ferrite, bainite, and martensite along with a hardness map across the weld and heat-affected-zone (HAZ) regions by integrating with the thermal model.


Author(s):  
A. Dinovitzer ◽  
B. Graville ◽  
A. Glover ◽  
N. Pussegoda

The potential for weld hydrogen cracking, that can also manifest itself as delayed cracking due to formation well after weld deposition, is controlled by three factors: the presence of hydrogen, the susceptibility of the weldment microstructure and tensile stresses. The tensile stresses promoting hydrogen cracking may result from either welding residual stresses or construction or operations based stresses, while the susceptibility of a microstructure is a function of its carbon equivalent and cooling rate. Since all arc welding processes introduce hydrogen into welds to some extent, and in general, base material selection and weld stress levels are not controllable in welding procedure development, the prevention of hydrogen cracking must be accomplished through hydrogen management. This paper describes a means of considering the roles of welding procedure parameters (heat input, preheat, post-heat, inter-pass temperature and time, etc.) in the management of hydrogen in multi-pass welds to preclude delayed cracking. Some results obtained using a multi-pass weld hydrogen and thermal diffusion model are presented to demonstrate the models utility in understanding the effects of welding procedure parameter effects on the risk of delayed cracking.


Author(s):  
Stephen J. Maddox ◽  
Julian B. Speck ◽  
G. Reza Razmjoo

Increasing deep-water oil and gas recovery has highlighted the need for high integrity, high fatigue performance girth welds in steel catenary riser systems. Such systems include girth welds made from one side. However, the widely used fatigue design classification, UK Class F2, for such welds is not well founded, but probably overconservative for pipeline welds. In an attempt to justify upgrading current fatigue design classifications and providing a better basis for design, fatigue tests were performed on a range of girth-welded pipes produced by pipeline welding contractors. This paper presents the results of those tests and their evaluation in terms of the factors that influence the fatigue performance of girth welds, including welding process, welding position, backing system, joint alignment, weld quality, specimen type, and fatigue loading conditions. Conclusions are drawn regarding the scope for adopting higher design classifications and the conditions that must be met to justify them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 269 ◽  
pp. 06001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dahia Andud ◽  
Muhd Faiz Mat ◽  
Yupiter HP Manurung ◽  
Salina Saidin ◽  
Noridzwan Nordin ◽  
...  

This research deals with a method and procedure for enhancing the structural life of the commonly used steel structure in oil and gas industries HSLA S460G2+M with a thickness of 10 mm. The type of joint and welding process is T-joint with transverse and longitudinal attachment welded using semi-automated GMAW. Filler wire ER80S-Ni1 and mixed shielding gas (80% Ar / 20% CO2) is used as material consumables. At first, the best suitable welding parameters are comprehensively investigated, prepared, tested and qualified according to welding procedure specification (WPS) qualification requirements. Further, the weld toe is treated by using HFMI/PIT with a frequency of 90Hz, 2 mm pin radius and air pressure of 6 bars. In accordance with the recommendation of the International Welding Institute (IIW), fatigue test is conducted using constant amplitude loading with the stress ratio of 0.1 and loading stresses from 55% to 75% of the yield strength of the material. Finally, the results of the fatigue experimental are compared with the fatigue recommendation of as-welded and HFMI/PIT of IIW as well as the untreated raw material. As a conclusion, it is observed that the fatigue life is increased up to 300% compared to IIW and 70% to as-welded. It is also obvious that treated transverse T-joint shows significant improvement than the longitudinal attachment.


Author(s):  
Stephen J. Maddox ◽  
Julian B. Speck ◽  
G. Reza Razmjoo

Increasing deep-water oil and gas recovery has highlighted the need for high integrity, high fatigue performance girth welds in steel catenary riser systems. Such systems include girth welds made from one side. However, the widely used fatigue design classification, UK Class F2, for such welds is not well founded, but probably over-conservative for pipeline welds. In an attempt to justify upgrading current fatigue design classifications and providing a better basis for design, fatigue tests were performed on a range of girth-welded pipes produced by pipeline welding contractors. This paper presents the results of those tests and their evaluation in terms of the factors that influence the fatigue performance of girth welds, including welding process, welding position, backing system, joint alignment, weld quality, specimen type and fatigue loading conditions. Conclusions are drawn regarding the scope for adopting higher design classifications and the conditions that must be met to justify them.


Author(s):  
Philippe P. Darcis ◽  
Israel Marines-Garcia ◽  
Eduardo A. Ruiz ◽  
Elsa C. Marques ◽  
Mariano Armengol ◽  
...  

The current work aims to point out the influence of plastic strain history, due to reel-lay installation, on the fatigue resistance of welded SMLS (seamless) steel pipes used for fabrication of Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) for oil and gas development. A C-Mn steel X65 pipe 10.75″ (273.1 mm) outside diameter (OD) and 25.4 mm wall thickness (WT) was chosen for this program. The Welding Procedure designed for girth welds manufacturing involved the use of Lincoln STT-GMAW™ (Surface Tension Transfer–Gas Metal Arc Welding) process for the root pass and SAW (Submerged Arc Welding) process with twin wire configuration for the fill and cap passes. This welding procedure presents a special post-weld finishing treatment, which consists in flapping the inner and outer weld overfills to produce a flush profile between weld metal and outer/inner pipe surfaces. The experimental approach was focused on quantifying the effect of accumulated plastic deformation using two different reeling frames simulating the same laying vessel: the Technip’s Apache. In this program, two reeling trials were performed at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K., and two other trials at Stress Engineering Services, Houston, U.S.A. Then, the strained specimens were full scale fatigue tested at TenarisTamsa R&D facilities. Those results have been compared with fatigue results obtained on unstrained specimens. Post-tests fractographic investigations were systematically performed on all samples to identify the causes for fatigue initiation. The results were statistically analyzed to determine which standard fatigue design curves best represent the measured S-N fatigue endurance. Finally, the results were also compared with the available literature.


Author(s):  
AmirHossein MajidiRad ◽  
Yimesker Yihun

There is a huge amount of research and study on the quality, parameter manipulation, material selection etc. of welding to develop optimized results for specific applications. To have a profound understanding of the process, and to investigate and verify various parameters which affect the quality of the welding process, experts use analytical, numerical and experimental methods. The major concern regarding the welding procedure is welding defect, which can affect the integrity of the welded structure. Various nondestructive structural health monitoring methods and modal analysis techniques have been employed to study and improve the strength and quality of the welded structure. Modal analysis is one of the most accurate and commercial techniques to track down the damage within the structures. It uses natural frequency, damping factors and modal shapes to observe the structural and material defects in details. There have been noticeable developments in this area and lots of studies have been conducted applying this technique to put welding procedure under rigorous scrutiny to improve its efficiency. While modal analysis is a tool to identify structural integrity of the components, vibration can affect the nature of the metal and change the mechanical properties in some cases. Mechanical vibration and Ultrasonic as low and high frequency oscillations respectively, are able to change the microstructure of the structures so that dislocations move, hence the stress trapped within will redistribute. This redistribution can lead to residual stress reduction up to a level. In this review paper, all remarks above are considered, defined and accurately studied through various cases in order to address different application of vibratory stress relief and recent achievement in this field.


Author(s):  
Pavel Layus ◽  
Paul Kah ◽  
Viktor Gezha

The Arctic region is expected to play an extremely prominent role in the future of the oil and gas industry as growing demand for natural resources leads to greater exploitation of a region that holds about 25% of the world’s oil and gas reserves. It has become clear that ensuring the necessary reliability of Arctic industrial structures is highly dependent on the welding processes used and the materials employed. The main challenge for welding in Arctic conditions is prevention of the formation of brittle fractures in the weld and base material. One mitigating solution to obtain sufficiently low-transition temperatures of the weld is use of a suitable welding process with properly selected parameters. This work provides a comprehensive review with experimental study of modified submerged arc welding processes used for Arctic applications, such as narrow gap welding, multi-wire welding, and welding with metal powder additions. Case studies covered in this article describe welding of Arctic steels such as X70 12.7-mm plate by multi-wire welding technique. Advanced submerged arc welding processes are compared in terms of deposition rate and welding process operational parameters, and the advantages and disadvantages of each process with respect to low-temperature environment applications are listed. This article contributes to the field by presenting a comprehensive state-of-the-art review and case studies of the most common submerged arc welding high deposition modifications. Each modification is reviewed in detail, facilitating understanding and assisting in correct selection of appropriate welding processes and process parameters.


2014 ◽  
Vol 891-892 ◽  
pp. 1488-1493 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Azevedo ◽  
Virgínia Infante ◽  
Luisa Quintino ◽  
Jorge dos Santos

The development and application of friction stir welding (FSW) technology in steel structures in the shipbuilding industry provide an effective tool of achieving superior joint integrity especially where reliability and damage tolerance are of major concerns. Since the shipbuilding components are inevitably subjected to dynamic or cyclic stresses in services, the fatigue properties of the friction stir welded joints must be properly evaluated to ensure the safety and longevity. This research intends to fulfill a clear knowledge gap that exists nowadays and, as such, it is dedicated to the study of welded steel shipbuilding joints in GL-A36 steel, with 4 mm thick. The fatigue resistance of base material and four plates in as-welded condition (using several different parameters, tools and pre-welding conditions) were investigated. The joints culminate globally with defect-free welds, from which tensile, microhardness, and fatigue analyses were performed. The fatigue tests were carried out with a constant amplitude loading, a stress ratio of R=0.1 and frequency between 100 and 120 Hz. The experimental results show the quality of the welding process applied to steel GL-A36 which is reflected in the mechanical properties of joints tested.


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