PIPELINE WELDING

Pipe-lay System

Reel-lay
Flexible and cable

Reel

S-lay

J-lay

Shallow Sea
Rigid pipe

Deep Sea
Rigid pipe

Stinger

J-lay tower

S-laying

Water Depth 200M

S shaped Pipeline
Maintain Tension

HD-60

HD-2500

HD-423

HD-289

HD-2500

Conveyor Production System

Characteristics of Pipeline Welding

Conveyor Production System

Even Work Load

Team Work

High Cost Production

Daily 100,000~350,000 USD
Productivity Cycle Time

Downtime : Repair, Mechanical,

Operational, and Weather

Station #1 is the bottleneck

Work Sequence

Pipe Transportation

Edge Beveling

Unloading Pipe

Pipe inside cleaning

Line-up

Welding(Station #2~#4)

Welding(Station #1)

Welding(Station #2~#4)

NDT

HSS

Passing Tensioner

Dope

Cooling

Entering sea

Stinger

Riser

J-Lay

Reel-Lay

Flexible pipe
Cable
Rigid pipe(small diameter)

Welding of Clad pipe

316L clad
Inconel 625 clad
(S)DSS

Untreated crude oil

Interfield ( 15Km)

LONGI. WELDING

C/S SAW

Auto G/G

Clad W/D-Auto-TIG

C/S SAW

Pipe Manufacturer

Welding of Clad Pipeline

Welding consumables for dissimilar materials (ER309,

Inconel 625)
Quick Argon Purging and maintenance of purging up to
3rd layer.
Open-root repair not possible Interim X-ray after 3rd
layer

Aux Equipments
Induction Heater

Preheating Equipment
Heating Temp : Minimum Preheat Temp+50C

Demagnetizer

50 Gauss
3

Liquified Gas Tank

Ar50+CO250

Evaporator and Mixer

Pipe Facing Machine(PFM)

Beveling pipe edge (Pursuit Out-ofRoundness)

Internal Clamp

Line-up (No Tack)

For manual welding
For automatic welding(Copper shoe)

Pneumatic

Internal Clamp/Welder

Line-up and Welding

Compensate big Hi-Lo(Large

diameter pipes)
Mechanized internal GMAW
Single wire 6 Torch
Mixed Gas (Argon/CO2 = 75:25)
1st Half circle welding and then
2nd half welding

INTERNAL WELDER WORK SEQUENCE

Welding Processes

1. SMAW : Cellulosic electrodes

2. FCAW : Innershield

3. Auto-GMAW : Tandem-GMAW(Pulse)
4. SAW(Double Joint) : DC or AC
5. GTAW + GMAW(V-up) : For Clad pipe

SMAW

Cellulosic Electrodes
Vertical-Down

Electrodes
AWS A5.1 and A5.5.
E-6010
E-7010P1
E-8010P1

Vertical-down welding

V-up

V-down

Number of Passes

10

Time for Root Pass

30 Min.

5Min.

Time for Balance

30Min.

45Min.

Total Time

60Min.

50Min.

Cycle Time

30Min.

12.5Min.

AVG Current

140A

180A

Electrode Dia

3.2/4.0

4.0/5.0

Electrodes

* Cellulosic Electrode

- DC
- V-Down or Up
- Deep penetration
- Small Slag and Fast Freezing
- Gas former(CO, CO2, H2, and H2O)
- High Hydrogen
Low Hydrogen Electrodes(Basic type)
- DC/AC
- V-down Not possible
- Medium penetration
- Much slag quantity and slow freezing
- Small Gas former(High resolution temp)
- Low Hydrogen

* Low Hydrogen V-down Electrode

- Low Hydrogen
- E7018-G/E8018-G/E7048
- Not very good bead formation.
- X65 or higher grade pipes

Electrode Manipulation

Drag technique : Slag shall not go faster than arc.

Current changing during welding

ROOT PASS
1. E6010, 4.0mm
2. ROOT GAP : 1.5mm
3. DC(-)

4. Best welders

HOT PASS (2nd Pass)

1. High current for deep penetration
(remelt the wagon track)
2. 4.0mm dia.

3. DC(+)
4. 140~180 Amp

5. Pipe movement after hot pass

FILL PASSES

CAP PASS(ES)

1. 5.0mm .

1. 4.0mm /(5.0mm)

2. DC(+)

2. DC(+)

3. 160~220 Amp

3. 140~180 Amp

Pass Sequence

T=9.5mm

T=12.7mm
9

T=14.3mm

10
8(STRIP)
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

6
4
3
2
1

T=15.9mm

1
T=17.5mm

T=23.8mm

Cf. V-up, T=15.9mm

Welding Machine
1. DC-CC
2. Remote control
3. Output control

1. DC-CC/CV
2. Remote control
3. Output control

Double Joint

24M pipe manufacturing by joining two single joints.

Longer Barge length.
150~160% efficiency comparing with single joint

Line-up

Internal Clamp

Outside Welding : Twin wire Submerged Arc Welding

Welding & Pipe rotating

Inside welding Single wire Submerged Arc Welding

Manipulator

Monitoring during Welding

Monitor

Grinding

Process
Tiny Twin Wire SAW
Wire : 2.0mm x 2(Outside), 3.2mm(Inside)
Power source/control : DC1500/NA5
4 passes best !!
Slag detachability is important

OUTSIDE

15.9mm

INSIDE

MAINLINE
WELDING

Mechanized GMAW
Tandem wire (Individual Power
source) : ER70S-6, 1.0mm
Mixed Gas (Argon/CO2 = 50:50)
Bug & Band
Programmed welding
parameters for each layer
Adjustment during welding
(Weave width and speed)
Automatic adjustment of torch
height
Monitoring welding parameters

Control System

Characteristics

R=2.4mm, a=5 (Narrow gap)

Target : 4 passes
Concave bead by capillarity
Irregular bead by mis-centering

Parameters

Oscillation
Centering
Gas Flow
Slow WFS for Start-up
Crater Treatment
Welding parameters per arc location
(Angle sensor)
WFS, Amp, Volt, Weaving width,
Weaving frequency, Dwell time, and
Travel speed

Travel speed too high

Lack of fusion
Weaving frequency
too high Overload
on weaver

Coating contact tube

with ceramic for root
welding

Root Welding

Fill & Cap

Fill pass
Contact tube outside groove

For Cap pass

Multi-Torch Welder

Mechanized external
GMAW
Single wire 6 Torch
Torch on Frame

Pulsed Arc

Repeat High / Low current/Voltage

Digital control(Programming)
High : Spray arc (One pulse one drop),
No spatter.
Low : Arc maintenance
Achievement of spray arc and deep
penetration with same average current.

Seam Tracking
Arc sensor (Voltage sensing)
Algorithm

25V

22V

18V

SPECIFICATIONS

- API (American Petroleum Institute)

API 1104 (Welding of Pipelines and related facilities)
API 5L (Specification for Line pipe)
- DNV
DNV-OS-F101 (Submarine Pipeline Systems)

- BS
BS4515 (Specification for welding of steel pipelines on land and offshore)
Part 1(Carbon and carbon manganese steel pipelines)

API STD 1104

- Qualification (Procedure, Welder)

- Production Welding (Alignment, Line-up, Bevel, Weather, Preheat..)
- Inspection (Method, Acceptance standards)
- Repair
- NDT procedure (Workmanship, or alternative acceptance standard)
- Mechanized Welding with Filler Metal Additions
- Automatic Welding without Filler metal Additions
- In-service welding

Qualification

WPQT
- Welding
- Visual Inspection
- NDT
- Mechanical testing (Tensile, Bend, Nick Break, Macro, Hardness,
Charpy v-notch Impact)
- Records (WPQR)
WQT
- Welding
- Visual Inspection
- NDT
- (or) Mechanical testing (Tensile, Bend, Nick Break)
- Records (WQR)

Qualification

INSPECTION

RT, UT, MPI Procedure

Personnel Certification
Equipment Calibration
Acceptance Standard

Alternative Acceptance Standard

Workmanship criteria

Judge based on length.

Based on experiences,
Service independent.

Judge based on Height and length.

Fracture mechanic analysis
Fitness for Purpose
Additional WPQT(CTOD test)
Stress Analysis
Inspection (Depth, height & length)

Alternative Acceptance Standard

Stress Analysis
CTOD test
AUT Validation

NDT

Radiography

AUT

Radiography(X-ray)
Crawler

Aligning Source with joint

Panoramic shooting

Film attachment, shooting, print-out and Interpretation : Abt 5 Min.

Auto UT

Zone
discrimination

Phased Array