Fig. 1 — Pipeline repair system layout — diver assisted.

Developments in
Diverless Subsea Welding
New fully remote equipment holds promise for performing fillet weld sleeve
repairs and hyperbaric GMAW hot tapping at depths too great for divers

BY NEIL WOODWARD

ivers are currently employed for a aid of divers. The Pipeline Repair System decreases and diverless equipment be-

D wide range of subsea pipeline op-

erations up to depths of 250 m,
carrying out a variety of tasks including
fully manual or semiautomated welding
for pipeline repair, essential tie ins, and
hot taps. Existing equipment has been
used to complete numerous hyperbari-
cally welded joints (welding in a pressure
equalized habitat on the seabed) with the
(PRS), operated by Statoil on behalf of
more than 40 members, has seen substan-
tial use in the field utilizing semiauto-
mated, diver-assisted gas tungsten arc
(GTA) welding for V-groove welds in butt
joints (71 welded tie ins over 17 years), as
shown in Fig. 1.
However, with greater water depths,
the ability of divers to function correctly
comes the only option. Fully remote di-
verless technology employing a fillet
welded sleeve repair and hyperbaric gas
metal arc (GMA) welding has been de-
signed and is the process of being built
and commissioned, with initial operation
in the 180 to 370 m depth range, with a
design capability of up to 1000 m seawa-
ter depth, referred to as the Remote

NEIL WOODWARD (neil@nj-woodward.demon.co.uk) is a consultant working for Statoil, Norway.

WELDING JOURNAL 35
Fig. 2 — Hyperbaric GMA welded repair
sleeve.
Pipeline Repair System (RPRS).
Remotely installed mechanical con-
nectors, which traditionally compete with
welding technology, may also be employed
for subsea repair. However, the require-
ment for their contingency storage to-
gether with connector unit cost for larger-
diameter pipelines can be expensive.
For the Pipeline Repair System team,
an integrated tie in and repair approach
therefore becomes the most fitting, using
diver-assisted welding operations, me-
chanical connectors, and fully remote
welding with the following rationale:
• Established diver-assisted GTA welding
for depths up to 180 m,
• Mechanical connectors for pipelines
below 30 in. in diameter,
• Fully remote repair using a fillet welded
sleeve for water depths >180 m and
pipes greater than 30 in. in diameter.
For many years, hot tap technology has
been used on topside applications in order
to connect branch pipelines into produc-
tion pipeline systems without stopping
production. The majority of hot taps are
based on welding the branch pipe to the
pipeline and then tapping by hydraulic
drilling machines. So far in the North Sea,
five pressurized and two low-pressure hot
taps have been carried out subsea, of
which two were on the Statpipe system.
These hot taps have provided cost-
effective solutions, but the current ap-
proach uses divers and is therefore depth
limited. Hyperbaric GMA welding is now
being qualified as the sealing element be-
tween a retrofit tee solution and the
mother pipe for remote hot tap applica-
tions, with a potential offshore applica-
tion in the summer of 2007. Much of the
subsea control systems and welding power
source technology is common to both the
remote hot tap and the welded sleeve re-
pair.
This article focuses primarily upon the
36 OCTOBER 2006
Fig. 3 — Fillet weld finite element.
GMAW qualification and the design and
build of the new remote sleeve repair
(RPRS) and remote hot tap welding
equipment.
Hyperbaric GMAW for
Remote Repair
Hyperbaric GTA welding with divers
has been employed for many successful
V-groove weld tie ins. The high degree of
accuracy required for the fine alignment
and closure for V-groove welds in butt
joints welds on larger pipes means that
this technique does not readily lend itself
to full automation. Use of a slightly over-
sized sleeve and fillet welds made at the
sleeve ends with hyperbaric GMA weld-
ing as shown in Fig. 2 offers a more
straightforward and fully remote solution,
because the pipe ends do not have to be
fine aligned and abutted closely. Align-
ment of the pipes and installation of the
repair sleeve may be performed fully in
the wet.
Baseline sleeve repair geometry for a
typical 42-in. X65 pipe is envisaged to be
a 600-mm sleeve length, a root opening of
up to 6.4 mm (worst case), and a 250-mm
length of the pipe inside the sleeve, which
allows a 100-mm root opening between
the pipe ends. A 2-D finite element model
is shown in Fig. 3 with the resultant
stresses from the appropriate critical pres-
sure (system pressure test of 242 bar dif-
ferential pressure) and bending design
loadings. It can be seen that the loading
and sleeve geometry result in two rela-
tively highly stressed areas — the fillet
weld “root” region, and, in the pipeline
itself, at the toe of the weld. Indeed, the
weld size derived for the application is de-
termined largely by the stresses induced
in the pipe itself, and a long weld leg
length is used to spread the load more
evenly back into the pipe.
A great deal of effort has been spent
using fracture mechanics modeling for the
tolerable root flaw size and worst case
growth under the anticipated load spec-
tra for the root region. For typical 42-in.
pipeline design loadings, the leg length is
required to be some 120 mm with a weld
height in excess of 30 mm. As shown, the
majority of the fillet weld metal area, how-
ever, with the exception of the root, is not
particularly highly stressed. The figure
shows an optimized geometry using a con-
cave fillet weld profile.
Part of the Remote Pipeline Repair
System, the Remotely Operated Welding
Tool (ROWT) is shown in Fig. 4. The
ROWT incorporates two separate weld-
ing heads with local fume extraction
equipment, while a separate tooling bas-
ket (not shown) contains bulk wire stor-
age, wire feeding, power source, and all
process control equipment. The welding
head comprises an air-cooled GMAW
torch on an angular wrist and weave axis,
a local contact tip cleaning tool, and two
separate arc viewing and weld inspection
cameras. All subsea operations are to be
controlled by operators at the surface.
Hyperbaric GMA welding has rarely
been used offshore. Cranfield University
has long pioneered the necessary funda-
mental welding research and development
behind the application of this technology,
with custom-built power source control
and power source equipment (Ref. 1). Re-
search programs with plasma, GTA, and
GMA welding processes have been car-
ried out with the support of leading oil
companies using a unique welding cham-
ber capable of simulating up to 2500 m
water depth — Fig. 5. This chamber is
used to simulate the subsea welding con-
ditions and qualify welding onshore for
the applications offshore.
The potentially water-depth independ-
36
Fig. 4 — RPRS remotely operated welding tool.
Fig. 6 — A 255 pass overhead fillet buildup.
ent GMAW process, with its relatively
straightforward equipment requirements,
became an obvious choice for fully remote
operation, particularly for fillet welding.
In the last ten years, fundamental and ap-
plication-specific research programs have
developed and refined operating param-
eters, and demonstrated weld quality and
material properties across the full water
depth range (up to 2500 m). Consumables
development, supported by ESAB, has
also been crucial in leading to a specific
formulation 1.0-mm metal cored wire ca-
pable of producing welds that meet off-
shore pipeline welding standards, namely
DNV-OS-F101. In the last four years, a
generic prequalification program for the
sleeve repair has been carried out ad-
dressing key areas of concern prior to spe-
cific qualification for the pipelines to be
covered. The key elements of the prequal-
ification program included the following.
Water Depth Range
Fig. 5 — A 250 bar chamber at Cranfield.
Fig. 7 — Retrofit tee.
An investigation into the effect of the
depth range for the pipelines to be cov-
ered by repair contingency, lying in the
180 to 370-m range. It was found that the
GMA process is relatively insensitive to
water depth and that the same welding pa-
rameters could be used to cover the depth
range, and there was no significant differ-
ence in the resultant mechanical proper-
ties. Since GTA welding is relatively sen-
sitive to water depth and requalification
work is carried out for differences above
10 m water depth, this represents a signif-
icant savings in repeat qualification costs.
Preheat Temperature
Since the pipeline is on the seabed and
the remote repair manipulator is compar-
atively small, the ability to generate high
preheat levels is a considerable challenge.
Work has been carried out to determine
the effect of preheat upon standard me-
chanical (tensile, hardness, and Charpy V
notch), fracture toughness, and sour serv-
ice corrosion properties. While there is an
obvious trade off in strength and ductility
with regard to preheat temperature in the
25° to 100°C range, standard mechanical
and CTOD properties are acceptable even
at the lowest temperature tested. Sour
service corrosion performance require-
ments have to be met with an 80°C pre-
heat level.
Weld metal cooling times (t8/5) for hy-
perbaric GMAW are comparatively low
and have been established as ~2 and ~3
s. for 25° and 100°C preheat levels, re-
spectively. This project also supported the
water depth range research work, i.e., lit-
tle observed change in t8/5 values for 180
to 370 m for a given preheat.
Hydrogen and Moisture Pickup
Much work has been spent character-
izing the level of hydrogen pickup at dif-
ferent moisture levels, using direct hyper-
baric measurement at 18 bar (equivalent
to 180 m seawater depth) with both pulsed
WELDING JOURNAL 37
Fig. 8 — Finite element analysis of GMA saddle weld for hot tap seal.
Fig. 9 — Retrofit tee GMA saddle weld macros.
and nonpulsed welding conditions. It has
been found that in a moisture level range
that may be controlled subsea, 0 to 1000
ppm, direct hydrogen levels for the 1.0-
mm metal cored wire are typical of 1 atm
performance (5 to 10 mL H2O per 100 g
Fe). With proper control of the in-situ
moisture levels, these hyperbaric condi-
tions are no more challenging than 1 atm.
Tekken tests made with pipeline material
at 370 m have also shown that with a 50°C
preheat level and above and a 300 ppm
moisture level, no cracking is exhibited.
In practice, the actual moisture level will
be controlled to less than 300 ppm.
To demonstrate the process perform-
ance at 370 m, a 255 pass weld made in
the overhead position is shown in Fig. 6.
Welding is performed with a 1.0-mm wire
at 8 m/min wire feed speed at a travel
speed of 7 mm/s, with the bulk of the dep-
osition made by a nonpulsed dip-transfer
condition at 18 V and 230 A. Further de-
38 OCTOBER 2006
tail on the overall strategy is in Ref. 2 and
mechanical properties are in Ref. 3. Pre-
qualification work also has been carried
out on S/N fatigue behavior for validation
of design assumptions, the effect of a local
magnetic disturbance, and immersion in
saltwater after 30 days. Formal qualifica-
tion work has been carried out using pro-
duction wire, X65 and X70 pipelines, and
a remote repair sleeve of X65 grade using
nominal conditions to cover the following
North Sea pipelines: Åsgard Transport,
Langeled, Troll P10/P11, Zeepipe 2A and
2B, and Europipe 2.
Remote Hot Tap and
Hyperbaric GMAW
The basic principle of hot tapping is to
establish a new branch pipeline connec-
tion to an existing pipeline while the
mother pipeline is under full pressure.
This involves connecting the branch pipe
including a valve to the mother pipeline,
usually by means of welding or a mechan-
ical clamp connection, cutting a hole in
the pipe wall by a machine connected to
the valve, retracting the cutting head, clos-
ing the valve, and disconnecting and re-
covering the cutting machine. The pipe
branch may now be extended by spools
and tie into a new pipeline in a normal
way. This strategy has been shown to be
very cost effective compared to alterna-
tive methods, including shutdown and tie
in at ambient pressure conditions.
So far, divers have been used to weld
the branch pipe to the mother pipeline,
and all installation and cutting operations
have also been performed by divers. The
cutting machines are marine versions of
standard onshore hot-tap cutting ma-
chines, not optimized for the subsea ap-
plication, which makes the process diver
intensive, requiring diver welders to be
38
trained and qualified in advance for the
substantial welding job and the operation
of the cutting machine.
The primary focus of the remote hot
tap project is the development of a novel
design combining the use of a remotely
installed mechanical clamp, providing all
structural integrity as well as interfaces
toward the isolation valve module and the
hot-tap cutting tool, and a “seal weld”
made by remotely operated hyperbaric
GMA welding inside the branch pipe —
Fig. 7 (Ref. 4). The intention of the seal
weld is not to provide structural capacity
as such, but to make a highly reliable seal
(metal-to-metal) to at least the same qual-
ity standard as traditional welded hot taps
are making today. A typical finite element
analysis of the seal weld is shown in Fig.
8. This is the most highly stressed event
for the seal weld — a typical hydrostatic
pressure test at 172 bar after welding to
verify the seal integrity prior to cutting.
The seal welding qualification program
has included work to demonstrate feasi-
bility for up to a 2000-m operation and a
full specific program for a 145-m applica-
tion. The programs have included work
on mechanical property characterization
and hydrogen pickup, and demonstrating
the repeatability of the hyperbaric GMA
weld quality, even though it is not a struc-
tural weld as such. At 145 m, mechanical
properties have demonstrated acceptable
properties with an all-weld tensile
strength of ~600 MPa 0.2% proof
strength, ~670 MPa UTS, and ~20%
elongation. Charpy V-notch weld metal
specimens exhibit 60 to 90 J at –30°C, and
SENB CTOD values from 10 × 20-mm
specimens with the precrack on the fusion
line are in the 0.4 to 0.9-mm range (satis-
fying the 0.20-mm minimum). Properties
taken from specimens welded at 1000 m
show no loss in performance. See Fig. 9
for typical hyperbaric saddle weld appear-
ance and macros.
The new remote system will represent
a substantial cost reduction since the off-
shore vessel alone used for the remote
equipment is approximately half the daily
cost of an offshore vessel with diver sup-
port, without factoring in the additional
cost of diver qualification. Even more im-
portantly, the system will extend the ca-
pability of the hot-tapping method beyond
water depths limited by divers.
Conclusions
Gas metal arc welding in a hyperbaric
environment has been selected and qual-
ified as the process for diverless subsea
applications — a fillet welded sleeve re-
pair and remote hot tapping.
Fillet welded sleeve repair using hy-
perbaric GMA welding may be employed
in water depths beyond diving capability.
Hyperbaric GMA welding has been qual-
ified for the sleeve repair of X65 and X70
line pipe in the 180 to 370-m range. A fully
remote sleeve repair welding equipment
suite has been designed and is in the
process of being commissioned.
Subsea hot tapping is a strategically im-
portant new technology with hyperbaric
GMA welding used as the critical sealing
element between a retrofit tee and the
mother pipeline. This equipment may be
used up to 1000 m seawater depth, while
the welding process has been demon-
strated to have 2500 m seawater depth ca-
pability. This introduces the possibility of
retrofitting tees to unprepared pipelines
and tie in new pipelines using hot tapping
without interruption to mother pipeline
production systems.◆
Acknowledgements
The remote pipeline repair system and
the remote hot tap developments are
being sponsored by Statoil. Previous spon-
sors of the Deepwater Hyperbaric Weld-
ing Research program at Cranfield Uni-
versity are also acknowledged for their
support and include the following: BP Ex-
ploration, EPSRC, Subsea7, Isotek Elec-
tronics, Norsk Hydro, and Texaco.
References
1. Hart, P. R., Richardson, I. M.,
Billingham, J., Nosal, P., and Nixon, J. H.
2000. Underwater joining to 8200 ft - an
alternative to mechanical connectors.
Proc. Int. Conf. Deepwater Pipelines and
Risers Technology. Houston, Texas.
2. Berge, J. O., Verley, R., and Arm-
strong, M. A. P. 2004. Deep water re-
motely pipeline repair using welded sleeve
technique. IPC04-0583, Calgary.
3. Woodward, N. J., et al. Subsea
pipeline repair - diverless GMA welding
using a fillet welded sleeve. IIW Doc. XII-
1868-05, SCUW 211-05.
4. Berge, J. O., et al. Remote hot-tap-
ping into subsea pipelines. OTC – 17659.
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WELDING JOURNAL 39