The impact of high-low misalignment on the load capacity of nominally defect-free girth welds was studied in this project. Two girth welds, one mechanized Gas Metal Arc Weld (GMAW) and the other, a manual Shielded Metal Arc Weld (SMAW) with intentional high-low misalignment, were used in this study. They were experimentally tested to determine material properties like their tensile strengths, hardness levels, and toughness. Tensile tests were con-ducted on cross weld specimens extracted from the two girth welds for assessing the effects of high-low misalignment on the load capacity of the welds....
The impact of high-low misalignment on the load capacity of nominally defect-free girth welds was studied in this project. Two girth welds, one mechanized Gas Metal Arc Weld (GMAW) and the other, a manual Shielded Metal Arc Weld (SMAW) with intentional high-low misalignment, were used in this study. They were experimentally tested to determine material properties like their tensile strengths, hardness levels, and toughness. Tensile tests were con-ducted on cross weld specimens extracted from the two girth welds for assessing the effects of high-low misalignment on the load capacity of the welds. Strains across the weld and in the base metal were measured during the tensile tests. Finite element models were constructed for simulating the cross weld tensile tests. The finite element simulation results were compared against experimental tests conducted on cross-weld specimens for validation of the finite element model’s weld geometry and defined material prop-erties, for subsequent use in the finite element models of full scale pipes. Finite element models of full scale pipes with local high-low misalignment were construct-ed using the weld geometry and material properties of the cross-weld tensile FE models. A so-phisticated mesh generator was used to model the local high-low misalignment. The results of the simulations were used to predict the effect of high-low misalignment on the load capacity of the weld. The results of the simulations were used to predict the effect of high-low misalignment on the load capacity of the weld.