Study for West-East gas pipeline shows safety benefits of overmatched girth welds

摘要

Welding tests in advance of construction of China's West-East Pipeline indicated that an overmatch between a girth weld and line pipe limit load properties and strengthen fracture resistance of the line pipe. But the tests also indicated the danger that the increase weld strength might undermine its resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC) and stress corrosion cracking (SCC), making the weld operation more difficult.