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TITLE OF TOPICS
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Chapter Name
Title of topics
List of figures
Abstract
Definition of the topic
Theory of the topic
Literature Survey
Objective to solve the problem
Methodology of Solution
Results and Discussions
Conclusions
References
Appendices

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2. LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO.

NAME

PAGE NO.

Fig 1 A typical welding circuit diagram, for dry welding(top) and wet welding (bottom)
Fig 2 Specially designed habitat
Fig 3 Dry welding in mini-habitat where the diver-welder is partially immersed in water

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3. ABSTRACT
Welding in offshore and marine application is an area of research and understanding where,
many problems are still unsolved. In the present paper, a brief classification of underwater
welding is made, the principals involved and the advantages and disadvantages of the various
types of underwater welding are described. Further discussion is made over the present
conventional and some advanced techniques used. Finally, the scope of further research has
been recommended. Welding in offshore and marine application is an area of research and
understanding where, many problems are still unsolved. In the present paper, a brief description
of the different commercial underwater techniques has been made. The problems in underwater
welding have also been discussed in context to the existing welding techniques. Detailed
description of a few advanced welding techniques has also been made. Finally, the scope of
further research has been recommended.

4. DEFINITION OF THE TOPIC

4.1 CLASSIFICATION OF UNDERWATER WELDING
Underwater welding can be divided into two main types:
I. Wet Welding
II. Dry Welding
4.1.1

Wet Welding

Wet Welding indicates that welding is performed underwater, directly exposed to the wet
environment. A special electrode is used and welding is carried out manually just as one does
in open air welding. The increased freedom of movement makes wet welding the most
effective, efficient and economical method. Welding power supply is located on the surface
with connection to the diver/welder via cables and hoses
POWER SUPPLY USED: DC
POLARITY: -VE POLARITY
4.2 Dry Underwater Welding
Hyperbaric welding is carried out in chamber sealed around the structure o be welded. The
chamber is filled with a gas (commonly helium containing 0.5 bar of oxygen) at the prevailing
pressure. The habitat is sealed onto the pipeline and filled with a breathable mixture of helium
and oxygen, at or slightly above the ambient pressure at which the welding is to take place.
This method produces high-quality weld joints that meet X-ray and code requirements. The gas
tungsten arc welding process is employed for this process. The area under the floor of the
Habitat is open to water. Thus, the welding is done in the dry but at the hydrostatic pressure of
the sea water surrounding the Habitat.

5. THEORY OF THE TOPIC

5.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF WET WELDING
The process of underwater wet welding takes in the following manner:
The work to be welded is connected to one side of an electric circuit, and a metal electrode to
the other side. These two parts of the circuit are brought together, and then separated slightly.
The electric current jumps the gap and causes a sustained spark (arc), which melts the bare
metal, forming a weld pool. At the same time, the tip of electrode melts, and metal droplets are
projected into the weld pool. During this operation, the flux covering the electrode melts to
provide a shielding gas, which is used to stabilize the arc column and shield the transfer metal.
5.2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF DRY WELDING
Underwater welding in a dry environment is made possible by encompassing the area to be
welded with a physical barrier (weld chamber) that excludes water. The weld chamber is
designed and custom built to accommodate braces and other structural members whose
centrelines may intersect at or near the area that is to be welded. The chamber is usually built
of steel, but plywood, rubberized canvas, or any other suitable material can be used. Size and
configuration of the chamber are determined by dimensions and geometry of the area that must
be encompassed and the number of welders that will be working in the chamber at the same
time. Water is placed from within the chamber by air or a suitable gas mixture, depending upon
water depth and pressure at the work site. Buoyancy of the chamber is offset by ballast, by
mechanical connections and chamber to the structure, or by a combination of both.

6. LITERATURE SURVEY
In the early 20th century, it would have been considered suicide for a diver to shoot an electric
arc into the water. Though professional diving was already an established industry (and had
been for hundreds of years), underwater welding was not. That all changed when Konstantin
Khrenov, a Soviet engineer, invented a method to join and cut metals underwater.
Origins of Underwater Welding Inventor:
In 1894, Khrenov was born in Borovsk, a town on the clear west side of Russia. Incidentally,
this town is also the home of another great mind Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a rocket scientist.
In his young adult years, Khrenov attended Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University
(ETU) where he received his education in electric welding, engineering and mathematics.
Khrenov taught and researched at ETU until the 1925, but he longed for more ways to apply
his research. More than anything, Khrenov wanted to find a way to weld underwater for quicker
vessel repairs. WWI had ended, but WWII was beginning to brew and the USSR was
mobilizing their fleets.
A Clear Solution: Waterproof Coating:
As Khrenov discovered, one of the largest hurdles to successful wet welds lie in the sporadic
outflow of gas bubbles from the point of contact with the arc and metal. This
reaction caused major porosity in the welds, and the bubbles burst out, untamed. With the help
of others, Khrenov devised a waterproof coating for the electrodes and stable power source.
Newly equipped, he began experimenting. In 1932 after successful experimentation in the labs,
Khrenov traveled with engineers to the Black Sea for further testing. Anticipation and
excitement overtook them all as the electrode flashed lighting blue under the waves. Would it
work? Would the electrode provide enough stability to shield the arc? It did. After a successful
testing, underwater welding was born. The first underwater welds left much to be desired, of
course, but scientists recorded the results in two historic articles:
Strains in the End Lap Welds by P.F. Papkovich (1933)
Design of Electric-Welded Seams for Combined Strength by Yu.A. Shimanskiy (1936)
Application in WWII:
Just several years after Khrenovs successful wet weld, the Soviets began to use the technology
for their vessels, harbors and docks. With the onset of WWII, many metals were in short
supply and nothing could be wasted. In 1936, crews performed underwater welding as part of
the effort to lift an enormous ship called Boris out of the Black Sea. With success under the
water, Khrenov didnt stop there. He devoted most of his life research to welding, and he
improved upon several technologies:

Electrode Coatings
Resistance-welder Power Supplies
Ceramic Fluxes
Khrenov also found ways to enhance gas-pressure welding, plasma-arc cutting and cold
welding. Beyond his research and new welding technology developments, he also taught at
three other universities besides ETU.
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Carrying the Wet Welding Torch: Cyril D. Jensen:

In America during the early and mid-1940s, Cyril Jensen began his own underwater welding
testing. Fascinated with Khrenovs work, Jensen sought to start an underwater welding
program in the US.
With a masters degree from LeHigh University, Jensen went on to earn his civil engineering
degree from Minnesota in 1931. Shortly thereafter, Jensen started teaching at LeHigh.
However, with the US brought into WWII, he received a leave of absence in 1942 and travelled
to the Annapolis naval engineering experiment station for welding research.
Expanding Underwater Welding to the Navy:
For the years that followed in the war, Jensen served in the Navy and conducted the operations
for their underwater welding and cutting program. Some of his most notable underwater
construction includes salvaging several of the sunken ships in Pearl Harbour. After WWII
ended, Jensen went back to LeHigh to teach. He served as the president of the American
Welding Society for the LeHigh Valley chapter.
During his life, Jensen vastly expanded the underwater welding program in the US and helped
create the arc-oxygen underwater cutting process. He holds two underwater welding patents
and wrote (or co-wrote) 18 research papers.

7. OBJECTIVE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

The increasing demand for oil and gas has led to increase the offshore oil and gas activities and
to move the exploration into the deep water. The desire to build, maintain and repair offshore
structures has brought the need for underwater welding. The general objectives of Underwater
welding are as follows:

Offshore construction for tapping sea resources

Temporary repair work caused by ships collisions or unexpected accidents
Salvaging vessels sunk in the sea
Repair and maintenance of ships
Construction of large ships beyond the capacity of existing docks
Repair and maintenance of underwater pipelines

Apart from general objectives there are specific objectives of two types of underwater welding
process. They are:
Underwater wet welding

Identify and define technological boundaries or limitations for wet underwater.

Establish whether welds produced by underwater wet welding produced meet the
requirements through weld procedure qualification tests.

Dry hyperbaric welding:

Apply cold arc power source in a hyperbaric chamber

Study of the effect of moisture on hydrogen content

8. METHODOLOGY OF SOLUTION
Wet Welding:
When DC is used with positive polarity, electrolysis will take place and cause rapid
deterioration of any metallic components in the electrode holder. For wet welding AC is not
used because electrical safety and difficulty in maintaining an arc underwater.
The power source should be a direct current machine rated at 300 or 400 amperes. Motor
generator welding machines are most often used for underwater welding in the wet. The
welding machine frame must be grounded to the ship. The welding circuit must include a
positive type of switch, usually a knife switch operated on the surface and commanded by the
welder-diver. The knife switch in the electrode circuit must can break the full welding current
and is used for safety reasons. The welding power should be connected to the electrode holder
only during welding. Direct current with electrode negative (straight polarity) is used. Special
welding electrode holders with extra insulation against the water are used. The underwater
welding electrode holder utilizes a twist type head for gripping the electrode. It accommodates
two sizes of electrodes. The electrode types used conform to AWS E6013 classification. The
electrodes must be waterproofed. All connections must be thoroughly insulated so that the
water cannot meet the metal parts. If the insulation does leak, seawater will meet the metal
conductor and part of the current will leak away and will not be available at the arc. In addition,
there will be rapid deterioration of the copper cable at the point of the leak.

Fig 1: A typical welding circuit diagram, for dry welding(top) and wet welding (bottom)

Dry welding in underwater may be achieved by several ways

i.

Dry Habitat Welding: Using a chamber in ambient pressure (at ambient water
pressure) in a large chamber from which water has been displaced, in an atmosphere
such that the welder/diver does not work in diving gear. This technique may be
addressed as dry habitat welding. As shown in fig. 2, welders are completely in dry
environment and weld properties are equivalent to one welded in normal conditions.
However, much more fit-up time is necessary to fix the habitat and prepare it for
welding.

Fig 2: Specially designed habitat

ii.

Dry Chamber Welding: Welding at ambient water pressure in a simple open-bottom

dry chamber that accommodates the head and shoulders of the welder/diver in full
diving gear as shown in Fig.3.

Fig 3: Dry welding in mini-habitat where the diver-welder is partially immersed in water
iii.

Dry Spot Welding: Welding at ambient water pressure in a small transparent, gas filled
enclosure with the welder/diver in the water and no more than the welder/divers arm
in the enclosure.

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9. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Considerable industrial effort has been made to improve process performance and control
strategies for the various underwater welding processes. For future scope in underwater
welding, the major efforts on research and development should be focused on the following
topics:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

Automation of the underwater joining and inspection of the welded structures

Mechanized underwater welding for actual usage of a very large floating structures
Investigation of the potential of using a robot manipulator for underwater ultrasonic
testing of welds in joints of complex geometry
Application of advanced welding technique, like friction, laser welding and
understand the behaviour of materials after the welding and process optimization
Invention of new welding techniques and explore the possibility of its application
in underwater welding
Generation of research data book on weld ability of materials during underwater
welding

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10. CONCLUSION
In underwater welding and inspection, continuous and scientifically arranged work was
necessary to provide results that could be applied in real environment and practical tasks.
Development of new welding technology, power sources, diving equipment and filler materials
and significant improvements in welder training enabled that high quality wet welds are
produced. Underwater wet and dry welding, together with inspection techniques gained
credibility and professional acceptance Alternatives in underwater welding and inspection
development are in application of various autonomous or remotely operated systems, but it
must be mentioned that divers are irreplaceable in some occasions. Underwater wet and dry
welding and inspection are significant and important tools for maintenance and repair of naval
objects. Moreover, through development of technology and equipment, their applicability is
further improved, especially with help of ROV. With current research projects, investigation is
present in area of diver-expert training and education, development of filler materials for
welding of carbon, high strength and stainless steels, development of wet welding technique,
development of adequate power sources, development of equipment for underwater NDT
inspection, development of appropriate organization scheme for divers and surface team,
further automation and introduction of ROV, deep waters technology, and standardization and
certification as well.

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11. REFERENCES
Amit Mukund Joshi, Underwater Welding, Indian Institute of Technology.
Kralj, I. Garai, Study of underwater welding of the spud can on the Labin platform 59,
University of Zagreb,2006
Habitat technology-innovative underwater techniques, www.hydrex.be,2006
Anand, A. and Khajuria, A., Welding Processes in Marine Applications: A Review,
IJMERR, Vol. 2, No. 1, January 2013
D. J Keats, Manual on Wet Welding.
Annon, Recent advances in dry underwater pipeline welding, Welding Engineer, 1974.
Lythall, Gibson, Dry Hyperbaric underwater welding, Welding Institute.
W.Lucas, International conference on computer technology in welding.
Stepath M. D, Underwater welding and cutting yields slowly to research, Welding
Engineer, April 1973.
Silva, Hazlett, Underwater welding with iron powder electrodes, Welding Journal, 1971.
Engineering materials and metallurgy by V. Jaya Kumar, A.R.S Publications
Silva, Hazlett, Underwater welding with iron powder electrodes, Welding Journal, 1971.
Hugel H, Matthias G, Muller G, et al. (1999): Proc SPIE, Vol. 3571, pp. 5260.
Irie T, Ono Y, Matsushita H, et al. (1997): Proceedings of 16th OMAE, pp. 4350.
Kern, M, Berger, P., Ugel, H. H., (2000), Weld. J., Vol. 3, pp. 72., O. P. (2004): A
Textbook of Welding Technology, Dhanpat Rai Publications (P) Ltd., N. Delhi, India.
Kruusing, A. (2004): Optics and Lasers in Engineering, Vol. 41, pp. 329352.
Lancester, J. F. (1987): The Physics of Fusion
Welding Part I: The Electric Arc in Welding, IEE Proc., Vol.134, pp. 233-254
Oates W. A. (ed.) (1996): Welding
Handbook, Vol. 3, American Welding Society, Miami, USA.

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12. APPENDICES
AWS D3.6 divides underwater wet welds into four classes- A, B, C, and O- based on varying
sets of requires properties defined by mechanical tests, surface appearance, and non-destructive
examination requirements. The specification defines the four classes as follows:
Class A

Intended to be suitable for applications and design stresses comparable to their

conventional surface welding counterparts by specifying comparable properties
and testing requirements

Class B

Intended for less critical applications where lower ductility, moderate

porosity, and other limited discontinuities can be tolerated

Class C

Need only satisfy lesser requirements than class A, B, and O and are intended
for applications where the load-bearing function is not a primary consideration

Class O

Underwater welds must also meet the requirements of another code or

specification

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