The Effects of Welding Conditions on Allowable Heat Input in Repair Weld of In-Service Pipeline

Nowadays, repair welding on in-service natural gas pipeline is a matter of primary concern of gas company. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of welding conditions on the allowable heat input for crack-free welds and welds without burn-through onto in-service natural gas pipeline. First of all, single pass weld bead on plates of the various thickness was deposited to evaluate the penetration of weld metal, the depth of heat affected zone and the hardness of repair weld under various welding conditions. Also, finite element analysis has been conducted to validate experimental results of bead-on plate welds and to develop appropriate model for repair welding. The welding experiments of bead-on-plate weld confirmed the influence of plate thickness, heat input and welding process on safety. And, the finite element model was demonstrated by comparing experimental results. The agreement between the computed and measured values was shown to be generally good. Therefore, It is possible to predict the safety of repair welding under various welding conditions with experimental results and finite element analysis model.