Challenges in Engineering Critical Assessment

of CRA Pipelines
2nd Welding Technology Asia 2012 Conference
17 April 2012

Challenges
Tensile properties of the weld metal and base/parent metal
- As per DNV-OS-F101, the weld metal tensile properties shall over-match
or at least even-match the base metal properties at all conditions and
strain level under consideration.
- May not be the case for CRA pipelines.

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Engineering Stress-Strain curves at room temperature

800

- Yield strength of weld

Stress (MPa)

700

600

metal is under-matching

500

the base metal.

BM1, full WT including Clad

400

- Severe under-matching

BM2, full WT including Clad

BM3, full WT including Clad

300

at design temperature

PW1, all weld

PW2, all weld
200

PW3, all weld

(>120C) !

RW1, all weld

RW2, all weld

100

RW3, all weld

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Strain (%)

Engineering Stress-Strain curves at design temperature

700

Upper bound BM curve used for ECA

- Material strength de-rating for

600

the weld metal is greater than

500

the parent metal !

400

lower bound RW curve used for ECA

BM1, full WT including Clad

Lower bound PW curve used for ECA

BM2, full WT including Clad

300

BM3, full WT including Clad

PW1, all weld
PW2, all weld

200

PW3, all weld

RW1, all weld
100

RW2, all weld

RW3, all weld

0
0

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10

15

20

25
Strain (%)

30

35

40

45

700

True stress strain curves of 622 AUTO Weld Metal used for ECA

- Different weld consumable,

600

different strength de-rating at

Stress (MPa)

500

high temperature.

400

300

622 AUTO at 140C, S3

200

622 AUTO at 120C, S2

100

622 AUTO at 100C, S1

0
0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

Strain (%)
700

True stress strain curves of 625 AUTO Weld Metal used for ECA

- Selection of weld consumable is

600

very important.
Stress (MPa)

500

400

300

625 AUTO at 140C, S3

200

625 AUTO at 120C, S2

100

625 AUTO at 100C, S1

0
0.0

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2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

Strain (%)

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

True Stress-Strain curves for Crackwise (23C)

800

- Testing of 309Mo shop weld.

700

600

- At RT, ultimate tensile strength

of weld metal is higher than the
parent metal >> join transverse
tensile specimen shows
specimen broke at parent
metal.

Stress (MPa)

500

400

300

200
BM, upper bound true stress strain curve
100
WM, lower bound true stress strain curve
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

Strain (%)

True Stress-Strain curves for Crackwise (110C)

800

At DT, the UTS of weld metal is

lower than that of the parent
metal due to the de-rating of the
weld metal strength and for this
situation we have serious
under-matching and almost no
defect can be tolerated for the
large strain condition.

700

600

500

400

300

200
BM, upper bound true stress strain curve
100
WM, lower bound true stress strain curve
0
0

10

15
Strain (%)

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20

25

30

Wide Plate Test of 309LMo Weld

- Wide plate test was performed by DNV to obtain information about undermatching weld metal and conservatism inherent in the ECA.
- The EDM notch was prepared either at the weld centre line (WCL) or
fusion line/ HAZ location from cap side. The EDM notch size was 7 mm in
length and 1 mm in height, estimated on the basis of acceptance criteria of
the manual UT.
200

200

100

140

EDM notch

R=25

250

350

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350

Strain gauges (two each side)

Wide Plate Test of 309Mo Welds

EDM Notch

Damaged specimen with notch at weld centre,

broken at the notch location. (test temperature: 110C)

Damaged specimen with notch at weld centre,

broken at the notch location. (test temperature: 110C)

EDM Notch

Damaged specimen WP-3 with notch at weld centre,

broken in the notch location (test temperature: 70C)

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Damaged specimen WP-6 with notch at weld fusion line,

broken in parent (test temperature: 50C)

Wide Plate Test (continued)

Due to the good fracture resistance of the weld, the failure mode of the wide
plate specimen is plastic collapse of weld metal or parent metal, and the
crack ductile tearing is more than 1.0 mm in all specimens.
J R- curves, JSM G7 (Design Temp)

1400
1300
1200

0.75

J=980a

1100

J=710a

0.75

Fracture toughness, J [N/mm]

1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0.00

0.25

0.50

0.75

G7 JSW WM

G7 JSW WM Curve

G7 JSW FL

G7 JSW FL Curve

1.00

1.25

Stable crack extension, a [mm]

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1.50

1.75

2.00

Wide Plate Test (continued)

All the four segment specimens at 110C broke at the centre
of the weld metal independent of the flaw location. Whether at
the WCL or at the FL / HAZ, the failure mode of the four
specimens was plastic collapse of the weld metal.
The specimens tested at 70C broke in the weld metal, and
the failure mode was the same as for the specimens tested at
110C. However, the strain increased to 8.1%, which is much
higher than for the specimens tested at 110C i.e. 2.4%.
The specimen tested at 50C was broken in parent metal and
the strain level is up to 10.3% that is close to the parent metal
strain corresponding to ultimate strength of parent metal.

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Wide Plate Test (continued)

SS 309LMo tensile properties and fracture resistance
properties is very sensitive to the test temperature.
Because of the difference between the de-rating of the weld
metal and parent metal strengths at higher temperatures, PQR
test must be performed at the design temperature to obtain the
actual stress-strain behavior of the weld metal compared to
that of the parent metal.

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Challenges (continued)
High Strain, HP/HT (High Pressure High Temperature)
- Effect of temperature on the tensile properties of the materials.
- High strain above yield (from 0.5% up to 2%) especially at buckle trigger
portion.
- According to DNV-OS-F101, combination of internal pressure and
longitudinal load (e.g. bi-axial loading condition) will lead to reduction of
strain capacity.

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Challenges (continued)
- 3D finite element analysis to study the influence of bi-axial loading
condition on the integrity of the pipeline girth welds.

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Challenges (continued)
800
700

BS7910 WMCL

BS7910 FL

WMCL without pressure

WMCL with pressure

FL without pressure

FL with pressure

J-integral (N/mm)

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%
Applied strain

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2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

Challenges (continued)
ECA results: critical flaw size curve
Critical Flaw Size Curves for 10" x 20.9 mm WT Pipeline Field Production Girth Welds (i.e. Zone-2)

Weld metal:
Design Temperature (DT)
E = 209000 MPa, Weld Metal, YS = 357 MPa, UT = 589 MPa
otal peak strain = 2.2 % + welding strain = 0.5% => Pm = 556 MPa from parent metal
1.6 mm Misalignment => SCF = 1.3 =>Pb = 4 MPa
Lr cut-off = UT/YS = 1.75
Cyclic Stress Range, Pm = 346 MPa for month no. 1, SCF = 1.3 =>Pb = 77.7 MPa
Stress ranges for other months as per Report No.: 4211136-PL-ET-014, Rev. A
Fatigue Crack Growth Rate : CP -850 mV Ag/ AgCl
Fatigue life factor (FLF) = 2

Critical Flaw Height [mm]

2.5

1.5
PW, Surface Flaw in Field Production Weld Metal

0.5

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Critical Flaw Length [mm]

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14

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

Challenges (continued)
ECA results: critical flaw size curve
- Critical flaw size curve which is smaller than workmanship criteria.
- If adopted, high repair rate is anticipated.
- Slow installation is expected.
- High cost!

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Summary
Workmanship weld flaw acceptance criteria may not be always
conservative and may not be applicable for all situation as
perceived generally.
Tensile testing at design temperatures to check the actual
stress strain behaviour.
Proper consideration of parameters used in the ECA in getting
workable flaw acceptance criteria.
Validation of ECA results by testing of segment/wide plate
specimens.

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