Application of State of the Art Assessment for Pipeline Girth Weld

Abstract

In the pipeline construction, the girth welds tend to be the weakness because of defects and microstructural heterogeneities. The importance of suitable assessment of various defects in the weld is not only to prevent the cracks from unstable growth to cause catastrophic accident but also can effectively reduce the weld repair to reduce construction cost. Although many welding defects assessment methods and codes have been applied in this field, there are many differences among them. In this paper, the application of weld defect assessment methods was extensively studied. The key points of ECA applications, such as the pipeline axial stress and toughness, have been introduced. Furthermore, some suggestions were given on the application of girth weld ECA assessment.