A Study on Unification of Welding Consumables in Construction of Chemical Cargo Tanker Made of Duplex Stainless Steel: Evaluation of Static Strength of Welded Joint

Austenitic stainless steels such as SUS 316 LN and austenitic stainless clad steel are used in cargo holds of chemical tankers owing to their corrosion resistance. Recently, the use of duplex stainless steels has been increasing, owing to their better strength and corrosion resistance and lower content of expensive Ni, compared with those features of austenitic stainless steels. However, few duplex stainless clad steels have been approved by classification bodies. Furthermore, the application of duplex stainless steel is not yet mainstream as hull structural materials because a stable supply market has yet to be established. Therefore, when applying cladding steel to construction of chemical tankers, austenitic stainless clad steel is often used at present. The duplex stainless steel and the austenitic stainless clad steel are mixed at construction factories; hence, there is a risk of misuse of welding consumables. If misuse is suspected, it is not possible to judge the erroneous use from visual inspection after construction; therefore it is necessary to uniformly remove the weld and re-weld. However, if universal welding consumables were identified, this might avoid the problems of misuse and simplify the procurement of welding materials. In this paper, we report on our studies to verify welding consumables for use in the hull structures, involving a mixture of duplex stainless steel and the austenitic stainless clad steel. The static strength of the welded joints is a particular focus of this study, from which we confirmed the validity and limitations of welding consumables.

Investigation of Strain-Based Failure Assessment Based on Reference Strain Method for Welded Pipes

Pipelines are effective means to transport oil and gas. It is essential to maintain the safety of pipelines with the increasing demand for oil and gas resource. Welded pipelines may suffer damage such as cracks during installation and operation, and the consequence evaluation for such damage is very important. Engineering critical assessment (ECA) is the evaluation procedure for structures with flaws and has been widely applied for assessing the pipeline integrity. Although main standards of structural integrity assessment including BS 7910 are stress-based ECA, it is known to produce overly conservative results. In this regard, strain-based ECA has been recently developed. One of the methods for improving the accuracy of strain-based ECA is the reference strain method. However, only few researches with reference strain method applied to welded pipes are available. Therefore, in this study, a numerical analysis based on the strain-based ECA is performed for strength mismatched girth welded joints with a circumferentially oriented internal surface crack. Equivalent stress-strain curve in BS7910 is employed to reflect the strength mismatch effects in the reference strain. This paper compares the results from the reference strain method and finite element analysis: J-integral and reference strain. Strain capacity of the reference strain method with strength mismatch is also discussed against stress-based ECA.

Evaluations of Ductile and Cleavage Fracture Using Coupled GTN and Beremin Model in API X70 Pipelines Steel

This paper is aimed to characterize ductile and cleavage fracture behavior of API X70 pipeline steel and investigate applicability of a micro-damage mechanics model to simulate static and dynamic crack propagation of single-edge notched tension (SENT) and drop-weight tear test (DWTT) specimens, as well as a local approach to describe cleavage fracture behavior. Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) model was applied to simulate ductile fracture behavior of SENT and DWTT specimens, where GTN model has been widely known for well-established model to characterize micro-damage process of void nucleation, growth and coalescence. As for a local approach, Beremin model was considered to estimate probability of cleavage fracture. In this regard, this study was especially focused on abnormal fracture appearance of DWTT specimen. In the present study, firstly, experiment data from tensile specimen test was used to obtain plastic flow curve (i.e. stress and strain curve). And load-CMOD and J-integral/CTOD resistance curves obtained from SENT test were used to characterize static ductile fracture and calibrate GTN model parameters for X70 pipeline steel. And the calibrated GTN model parameters were verified by comparing experiment data from DWTT test such as load-displacement and crack length-time curves with those from FE analysis. To accommodate dynamic effect on material properties, rate-dependent stress-strain curves were considered in FE analyses. To describe cleavage fracture, the Weibull stress was calculated from FE analyses of DWTT and Weibull parameters were calibrated by comparing with probability distribution of cleavage fracture from experiment data of DWTT specimen. Using Weibull parameters, the whole of cleavage fracture probability can be estimated as ductile shear area of DWTT specimen increases.

Qualification of TMCP Pipe for Severe Sour Service: Mitigation of Local Hard Zones

C-Mn steels are extensively used as line pipe material for sour service oil and gas applications, i.e. in the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), because of their ease of fabrication, weldability and significantly lower cost compared to Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRAs). However, use of C-Mn steel in sour conditions can be limited by its susceptibility to various hydrogen damage mechanisms such as sulfide stress cracking (SSC) and hydrogen induced cracking (HIC). Presently, there are several industry standards which provide guidelines for materials selection and qualification testing to ensure the integrity of carbon steel pipelines in sour service. In recent years, examples of line pipe susceptibility to SSC have occurred due to undetected Local Hard Zones (LHZs) produced during steel plate manufacture. A companion paper (Fairchild, et al, [1]) describes historical and one newly recognized root causes for LHZs. Due to this newly recognized root cause, the adequacy of the current industry practice for specifying and qualifying C-Mn line pipe for severe sour service should be evaluated. In this work, a new approach to monitoring steel plate manufacture during Thermo Mechanical Controlled Processing (TMCP) in order to manage LHZs is explained. Results from implementing this qualification approach will be discussed. In addition, several gaps were identified in the current test methods and various potential modifications to address these gaps were identified. Based on the results of these studies, recommendations to the test methods are made to improve the robustness in the materials qualification process used for sour pipeline projects.

Process-Structure-Property Fatigue Characterisation for Welding of X100 Steel Catenary Risers

Welded connections are a fatigue sensitive location for offshore steel catenary risers. The susceptibility to fatigue is due to the notch effect of the weld and the gradient in microstructure and material properties across the weld which result from welding thermal cycles and differences in the composition of the parent material and weld metal. In this work, a representative full-scale steel catenary riser girth weld is conducted using X100Q steel. The thermal and strain history in the weld zone are captured using a thermocouple and strain gauge array. A parallel programme of Gleeble thermomechanical simulation is implemented to develop microstructurally uniform heat affected zone (HAZ) test specimens. The parent material, weld metal, simulated HAZ and a cross-weld sample are characterised using a programme of nanoindentation, tensile and fatigue testing. A softened region with microstructure corresponding to intercritical HAZ (ICHAZ) is identified in the girth weld. Tensile and fatigue failures are shown to occur in a representative microstructural region for simulated HAZ specimens, indicating a susceptibility to failure in the ICHAZ for matched or over-matched X100Q welds.

Scaling of Pop-Ins During Brittle Fracture Testing

Measurement of the fracture toughness of steel is important for the assurance of the safety of ships and offshore structures, especially when these structures are made of thick sections and/or applied in cold environments. One key factor that will affect the determination of the fracture toughness is a pop-in, which is a short event in which unstable fracture is initiated and then self-arrests. If the pop-in is large enough, it will be used to calculate the fracture toughness. Pop-ins are believed to be the products of local brittle zones, which occur randomly at crack tips and have finite sizes. Fracture toughness testing codes have ways of determining whether a pop-in is critical (thus, identifying the maximum force and displacement to be used in the determination of the toughness of the material) or not important (thus, allowing for the test to proceed). In an ongoing project on the use of small-scale fracture specimens to predict standard fracture toughness test results, we would like to know how pop-in acceptance criteria should be scaled for specimen size. It is expected that the physical size of the brittle zones that cause pop-ins is invariant of specimen size, meaning that the contribution of the pop-in will be proportionally more important for smaller specimens. An analytical method for relating the pop-ins on one specimen size to another specimen size is developed. This method is partially verified by observations on the size of a local brittle zone observed on a fracture surface and the effect of that pop-in on the force-displacement curve during a CTOD test. The analytical method showed that an equivalent pop-in for a small-scale specimen is indeed larger, but that the effect was subtle.

Corrosion Behaviour of Cupronickel 90/10 Alloys in Arabian Sea Conditions and its Effect on Maintenance of Marine Structures

The composition of seawater plays a very significant role in determining the severity of corrosion process in marine assets. The influential contributors to the general and pitting corrosions in marine structures include temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), salinity, PH, chlorides, pollutants, nutrients, and microbiological activities in seawater. The Cu-Ni (90/10) alloy is increasingly used in marine applications such as heat exchangers and marine pipelines because of its excellent corrosion resistant properties. Despite the significant advancements in corrosion shielding procedures, complete stoppage of corrosion induced metal loss, especially under rugged marine environments, is practically impossible. The selection of appropriate metal thickness is merely a multifaceted decision because of the high variability in operating conditions and associated corrosion rate in various seawater bodies across the globe. The present research study aims to analyze the early phase of corrosion behavior of Cu-Ni (90/10) alloy in open-sea conditions as well as in pollutant-rich coastal waters of the Arabian Sea. Test samples were placed under natural climatic conditions of selected sites, followed by the mass loss and corrosion rate evaluation. The corrosion rate in the pollutant-rich coastal waters was around five times higher than in the natural seawater. A case study on marine condenser (fitted with of Cu-Ni 90/10 alloy tubes) is presented, and a risk-based inspection (RBI) plan is developed to facilitate equipment designers, operators, and maintainers to consider the implications of warm and polluted seawater on equipment reliability, service life, and subsequent health inspection/ maintenance.

Wear Performance of Mooring Chain in Wet Environment With Substitute Ocean Water

Floating wind turbine facilities installed in deep sea areas play an essential role in the promotion of green energy. One of the problems associated with the commercialization of facilities installed in the deep sea is the maintenance cost of mooring chains, because they are expensive and wear between links leads to chain breakage. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a quantitative wear evaluation method for mooring chains. An experimental facility to reproduce the wear caused by sliding between links at the scale of an actual floating wind turbine was developed to investigate the wear performance in seawater conditions, and wear tests were conducted. Substitute ocean water was applied to the experiment instead of seawater. In addition, a procedure for nonlinear finite element analysis was improved to estimate the behaviour of wear between links. Measured stress versus strain relations of the links was considered in the finite element analysis. The experiments and numerical analysis confirmed that the amount of wear in the substitute ocean water was less than that obtained in dry air and that the tensile force between links is an important factor for the degree of wear between links.

The Assessment of Locally Thinned Areas Subject to a Hoop Stress and an Axial Stress: Background to the Guidance Given in Annex G of BS 7910:2013

Annex G Assessment of locally thinned areas (LTAs) in BS 7910:2013 is applicable to LTAs in cylinder, a bend and a sphere or vessel end. It can be used to assess the longitudinally-orientated LTA in a cylinder subject to a hoop stress and a circumferentially-orientated LTA in a cylinder subject to an axial stress (due to axial force, in-plane bending moment and internal pressure), and also to assess an LTA subject to a hoop stress and an axial stress. An outline of the origins of Annex G is given. A comparison with full-scale burst tests of pipes or vessels containing LTAs subject to a hoop stress and an axial stress is presented. It is demonstrated that the method in G.4.3 Hoop stress and axial stress is conservative.

A Closed-Form SIF Determination and Fatigue Life Investigation on Ship Construction Model

Stress intensity factors (SIFs) are important parameters in brittle fracture assessment of marine notched components; in respecting of previous researches, it has found that there are several ways for SIF solutions. Following outline of LEFM based fatigue analysis; the paper has proposed a closed-form SIF solution as an alternative way for ship structural details prediction. It has shown that the stress intensity factors (SIFs) can be solved revealing the effect of the geometric parameters. Numerical tool has offered an evaluation as convergence behavior of relative SIF results between CCT (central crack) and DENT (double edge notch). Then the proposed methodology is applied onto the construction similar to HHI #1 and #2 specimens. It has be concluded in results that the SIFs and fatigue lives by the proposed method have good agreement with those by FEA calculations, furthermore, these key parameters can be expressed in formula format. For real engineering application, the main advantage of the proposed method will be useful for fatigue prediction rapidly and conveniently.