Fracture toughness and safety assessment of X65 offshore pipeline welded joints

0Introduction Weldedjointsaretheweaknesslocationinthewelded structureofoffshorepipeline.Duetothein servicecondi tionssuchaslowtemperatureandoceanwave,crackiniti ation,extensionandevencollapsearefrequentlyfoundin thejoints.Thematerialwithhightoughnessatl…

Fracture toughness and safety assessment of X65 offshore pipeline welded joints

In this investigation, the mechanical properties and low-temperature fracture toughness of API 5L X65 offshore pipeline welded joints were studied. Structure Integrity Assessment Procedure (SINTAP)-Failure Assessment Diagram (FAD) method was applied to the pipe structure with surface flaw at the weld toe. According to the ISO standard BS7448,the CTOD fracture toughness of the welded joints was determined at the temperature of 0℃. For the heat-affected zone (HAZ) specimens, post-test metallographic analysis was performed to verify that the tip of the crack was located in the coarse crystal zone in order to confirm the validity of the above results. The failure lines of analysis level 1 and 3 of weld metal were derived from the results of the mechanical property test. The assessment was performed, considering the maximum lay stress, residual stress conservatively assumed to be uniform tensile stress, and minimum CTOD value. The results of the assessment showed that pipeline structure with a surface flaw ( the height and length are respectively 2. 2 mm and 5 mm) at the weld toe is safe. This study lays the foundation of application of SINTAP to pipeline structure assessment.