Microstructures and Plane Energy Spectra of X80 Pipeline Steel Welded Joints by Submerged Arc Automatic Welding

X80 pipeline steel was welded with submerged arc automatic welding, the microstructures, cavity sizes, fusion depths and plane scanning of chemical elements in the welded zone, fusion zone, heat affected zone and base steel were observed with OM（optical microscope） and SEM（scanning electron microscope）, respectively. The experimental results show that there is main acicular ferrite in the base steel and welded zone, the microscopic structure of fusion zone is a blocked bainite, and the heat affected zone is composed of multilateral ferrite and pearlite. M-A unit of the welded zone is the main factor to strengthen the welded zone, composed of acicular ferrites. The percentage of cavities in the welded joint is less than that in the base steel, which is beneficial to increasing its mechanical performance and corrosion resistance. The fusion depth in the fusion zone and welded zone is 101.13 μm and 115.85 μm, respectively, and the distribution of chemical elements in the welded zone is uniform, no enrichment phenomena.

Inspection of pipeline girth welds with ultrasonic phased array technique

A novel automatic ultrasonic system used for the inspection of pipeline girth welds is developed, in which a linear phased array transducer using electronic scan is adopted. Optimal array parameters are determined based on a mathematical model of acoustic field for linear phased army derived from Huygens＇ principle. The testing method and the system structure are introduced. The experimental results show that the phased array transducer system has the same detectability as that of conventional ultrasonic transducer system, but the system architecture can be simplified greatly, and the testing flexibility and the testing speed can be improved greatly.

Numerical analysis and experimental research on detection of welding defects in pipelines based on magnetic flux leakage

Regular inspection of long-distance oil and gas pipelines plays an important role in ensuring the safe transportation of oil and gas,and inspection on welding defects is an important part of the inspection process.Magnetic flux leakage(MFL)is an electromagnetic non-destructive testing technique which has been commonly utilized to detect welding defects in pipelines.In the present study,Maxwell electro-magnetic simulation software was used to carry out numerical study on the welding defects in pipelines,including incomplete penetration and undercut.TheФ406 pipeline with a wall thickness of 7 mm was selected as the study case to establish the numerical model.Setting the life-off value at 1 mm,the distribution of magnetic leakage field was investigated for pipeline without defect,pipeline with incomplete penetration defect and pipeline with undercut defect respectively,the characteristic values describing the depth and width of defects were found.Furthermore,quantified equations which can be used to describe the defect depth were proposed.Finally,experimental research was carried out to validate the effectiveness of the numerical model,and the experimental results showed good consistence with the numerical calculation results.The research results indicate that,it is technically feasible and reliable to diagnose the incomplete penetration and undercut welding defects in pipelines using MFL.

Multiaxial Fatigue Analysis on Reeled Deepwater Steel Catenary Risers with Girth Weld Defects

In the present study, we simulated the reel-lay installation process of deepwater steel catenary risers（SCRs） using the finite element method and proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis for reeled SCRs. The reel-lay method is one of the most efficient and economical pipeline installation methods. However, material properties of reeled risers may change, especially in the weld zone, which can affect the fatigue performance. Applying finite element analysis（FEA）, we simulated an installation load history through the reel, aligner, and straightener and analyzed the property variations. The impact of weld defects during the installation process, lack of penetration and lack of fusion, was also discussed. Based on the FEA results, we used the Brown-Miller criterion combined with the critical plane approach to predict the fatigue life of reeled and non-reeled models. The results indicated that a weld defect has a significant influence on the material properties of a riser, and the reel-lay method can significantly reduce the fatigue life of SCRs. The analysis conclusion can help designers understand the mechanical performance of welds during reel-lay installation.

Simulation study on heat-affected zone of high-strain X80 pipeline steel

The microstructure evolution and impact-toughness variation of heat-affected zone（HAZ）in X80 highstrain pipeline steel were investigated via a welding thermal-simulation technique,Charpy impact tests,and scanning electron microscopy observations under different welding heat inputs and peak temperatures.The results indicate that when heat input was between 17 and 25kJ·cm^（-1）,the coarse-grained heat-affected zone showed improved impact toughness.When the heat input was increased further,the martensite-austenite（M-A）islands transformed from fine lath into a massive block.Therefore,impact toughness was substantially reduced.When the heat input was 20kJ·cm^（-1） and the peak temperature of the first thermal cycle was between 900 and 1300°C,a higher impact toughness was obtained.When heat input was 20kJ·cm^（-1） and the peak temperature of the first thermal cycle was 1300°C,the impact toughness value at the second peak temperature of 900°C was higher than that at the second peak temperature of 800°C because of grain refining and uniformly dispersed M-A constituents in the matrix of bainite.