Failure analysis of thermowell weldment cracking

Abstract

This study presents the root cause analysis of a weldment failure in a thermowell assembly operating in a natural gas processing plant. Laboratory investigations indicated inferior quality for the fillet weld joining the thermowell flange to the pipe supporting the thermowell to the main pipe. The fillet weld exhibited excessive concavity, lack of penetration and lack of fusion. This led to minute weldment cracking, which was exacerbated by flow-induced vibrations exceeding safe operational limits. This promoted small magnitude, high frequency stress cycling coupled with high mean stress at the poorly welded joint, which led to accumulation of high cycle fatigue damage and final fracture causing gas leakage. Mitigation plans included use of a shorter support pipe and revised safe operational envelope of the pipeline under consideration.