Homopolar Welding Research Articles

Recent developments in high productivity pipeline welding

Installation of new pipelines is predicted to grow at a rapid rate over the next twenty years, due in part to the increase use worldwide of combined cycle power generation plant using natural gas a fuel. The need to construct large diameter pipelines over long distances has led to an increased demand to improve the productivity of pipeline girth welding. Many novel techniques have been tried in the past to achieve productivity gains, including laser welding, flash butt welding, homopolar welding, and radial friction welding. In spite of the failure to gain wide acceptance, there is still current development aimed at achieving their eventual implementation. Single wire mechanised gas metal arc welding (GMAW) remains the dominant pipe girth welding technique, and has been optimised in the past to produce the maximum productivity possible with this process. Continued development of GMAW with dual torch, tandem GMAW welding and novel techniques for GMAW roots is leading to further significant gains in arc welding productivity. This paper describes a new development, the CAPS project, (Cranfield Automated Pipe-welding System), where tandem GMAW in a narrow groove has been applied to pipeline girth welding with two tandem torches in a single welding head. The CAPS system offers welding productivity three to four times higher than that possible with the conventional single wire GMAW technique, while still producing a weld which is very similar to that generated by single wire welding. The development of the system is described, as well as recent successful trials under field conditions. The development of high power lasers has spurred a current high level of interest in the possibility of application to pipeline welding, and current research is described in which the feasibility of pipeline laser welding has been established.

Advances in Homopolar Welding of API Line Pipe for Deepwater Applications

Summary The University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics is conducting a research program, funded by six oil companies, two industrial contractors, and two government agencies, to study homopolar welding of line pipe for J-Lay applications. In 1995, the third year of the five year research program, the set of weld parameters, those input variables used to control weld performance and quality, was expanded to include joint geometry, with dramatic improvement in the mechanical properties of two HSLA nominal 3-in. line pipe materials: X60 and X65. These improvements increased the Charpy V-Notch impact toughness properties to near parent metal values, while maintaining acceptable strength. After demonstrating repeatable performance with the new parameters, new research focused on real world effects including tolerancing the parameters and evaluating the effect of poor fit up resulting from misalignment and rough and wavy interfaces. During the final year of the research program, the pipe welding program has scaled up to 12-in. nominal line pipe, a seven-fold increase in the cross-sectional area. The paper will cover the basics of homopolar welding (HPW), weld parameters and modifications, the effects of these changes on real time process data, mechanical properties, weld upset profile, HPW metallurgy, and the studies of real world effects. Results from HPW of 12-in. pipe will also be presented.

Homopolar Welding for J-Lay Pipeline Construction

Homopolar Welding for J-Lay Pipeline Construction