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Piping and pipeline are considered to be 60-70% of the oil and gas industry equipment. One of the most crucial factors to complete high quality projects within planned schedules is to focus on the quality of welding activities. Furthermore, the non-skilled welder is considered as a main parameter to produce welds with imperfections beyond the acceptable limits. Welders should have the required welding skills to perform the welding activities and produce sound welds, resulting in low weld rejection. On the other hand, poor welder’s performance produces low quality welds which affect the integrity of the welds and contribute to project delay and increase costs. This paper addresses methods to qualify welders and monitor their performance throughout the project lifecycle. The paper will study ISO 9606 approval testing of welders, American Welding Society (AWS) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Sec IX minimum requirements to qualify and certify welders. It will also illustrate the main variables that may contribute to high welding rejection rate, that are directly associated with the welders’ qualification and performance. Moreover, it will study the method of qualifying welders for different levels to properly assign welders based on load and criticality to avoid high welding rejection rate. The study shows that welders’ skill is the main parameter to produce high quality welds. Focusing on the causes of common welding defects, then educate and train the welders on the main factors causing these welding defects, will leave an influence to prevent defect recurrence
The paper considers best practice to realise the optimum combination of strength, toughness,corrosion resistance and radiographic integrity in UNS S32760 pipe girth welds made using theGTAW process.Aspects of fit up, tacking, root gap are considered. The effect of weld heat input and heat inputcontrol through the thickness of the joint, welding technique, inter pass temperature control andthe use of different combinations of shielding and backing gasses on corrosion resistance ofjoints is presented. Current specification, procedure and welder qualification requirements arediscussed, as is the need for supplementary testing, in particular quantitative microstructuralevaluation.
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Corrosion under insulation (CUI) is a critical challenge that affects the integrity of assets for which the oil and gas industry is not immune. Over the last few decades, both downstream and upstream industry segments have recognized the magnitude of CUI and challenges faced by the industry in its ability to handle CUI risk-based assessment, predictive detection and inspection of CUI. It is a concern that is hidden, invisible to inspectors and prompted mainly by moisture ingress between the insulation and the metallic pipe surface. The industry faces significant issues in the inspection of insulated assets, not only of pipes, but also tanks and vessels in terms of detection accuracy and precision. Currently, there is no reliable NDT detection tool that can predict the CUI spots in a safe and fast manner. In this study, a cyber physical-based approach is being presented to identify susceptible locations of CUI through a collection of infrared data overtime. The experimental results and data analysis demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing machine-learning techniques coupled with thermography to predict areas of concern. This is through a simplified clustering and classification model utilizing the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). This is a unique and innovative inspection technique in tackling complex challenges within the oil and gas industry, utilizing trending technologies such as big data analytics and artificial intelligence.
During the construction of a 56km long 16 in. carbon steel sour gas pipeline, repetitive surfacepreparation failures were detected during visual inspection of pipeline girth weld internal surface prior tocoating application. Such failures represented 67% of the total pipeline girth welds and were manifestedby excessive sharp-edges at the root pass. To identify the failure causes, an investigation wasperformed through reviewing the pipeline, fabrication and coating application specifications andprocedures, quality control records and performing an extensive visual inspection through an advancedvideo robotic crawler on all pipeline girth welds made. Upon investigation analysis, the failures werecaused by sharp-edges in the root pass which were attributed to improper practices duringmanufacturing, field fabrication and pre-coating quality control. The failure analysis indicated that themechanized Gas Metal Arc Welding process, with the parameters used, was not suitable for internalgirth weld coating application. In addition, a more stringent requirement should be applied to theacceptable pipe-end diameter tolerance and pre-coating quality control to ensure absence of similarpremature surface preparation failures. The pre-coating quality control can be improved throughutilization of robotic laser contour mapping crawler for precise detection and sizing of unsatisfactorysurface weldment defects, including sharp edges.