INFLUENCE OF POROSITY ON THE INTEGRITY PROPERTIES OF BUTT WELDED SUPER DUPLEX STAINLESS STEEL UMBILICAL TUBE

摘要

Super Duplex Stainless Steel (SDSS) tube is the main component in steel tube umbilicals for the transportation of hydraulic fluids and chemicals, or gas injection into the subsea well. The umbilical tube is made from seamless tube joined together by girth weld. Therefore, porosity is one of the main weld defects that could be discovered within the welds, and these defects can have significant impact on the execution of the whole project, in term of both schedule and cost. This paper reviews the design codes and standards relating to the porosity acceptance criteria, and discusses the recent investigation on the influences of porosity (number, size and location) to the stress distribution within the weld. The study was performed using both FEA and practical fatigue test. The results demonstrated that the distance of the pores to the weld surface is a critical parameter to the increase and localisation of stress as the pore starts to interact with the weld root or cap. In addition, significant pore stress interaction has been observed when a bending moment is introduced to the weld. The study has demonstrated that the current porosity acceptance criteria applied to umbilical manufacture in the subsea industry are typically conservative and can be modified.