Experimental study on strength and ductility of underwater

fillet welds in repairing offshore steel structures

Xiao Chen, Yasuo Kitane & Yoshito Itoh
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan

Introduction Results
Underwater wet welding is commonly used to repair corroded offshore Load-deformation 300 200
steel structures. The study presents an investigation on strength and
ductility of underwater fillet-welded joints. Fourteen different types of Ultimate load

A pplied load (kN)

A pplied load (kN)

weld assemblies are tested to failure, and weld hardness and 200

microstructures are investigated. Differences between underwater and in- Fracture LYA 100
air fillet welds are examined in terms of strength, ductility, and failure deformation 100
LYW
LWA TYA
LWW TYW
TWA
modes. Weldability of base steels in the underwater wet environment is Longitudinal
LCA
LCW
Transverse
TWW

also evaluated. Effect of underwater LSA

LSW
TSA
TSW
0 0
environment 0 1 2 3 4 0 0.5 1 1.5
Weld deformation (mm) Weld deformation (mm)
Strength
g and ductilityy
600 800
Longitudinal Transverse
Patch 700
500

Weld strength (MPa)

600

Weld strength (MPa)

Weld 400
500

300 400
Underwater welder BOND failure 300 BOND failure
200
DEPO/BOND failure DEPO/BOND failure
200
Corroded base
Corroded offshore 100 LYA LWA LCA LSA TYA TWA TSA
100
steel structure Repaired by welding patch plates LYW LWW LCW LSW TYW TWW TSW
0 0
0 00
0.00 0 20
0.20 0 40
0.40 0 60
0.60 0 80
0.80 0 0 05
0.05 01
0.1 0 15
0.15 02
0.2 0 25
0.25
Experiment program Ductility factor Ductility factor

5l 5 l 5 Hardness and microstructure 60%

Strength increase
increase
Front view 40 40 l= 40 or 20
Front view 41.0%
LCA- cover 500 40%
Hv Max: 239 30.4% 30.3%
40 75 400
(a) LCA 23.7% 21.3% 21.7%

Strength
300 20%
Clip gauge 200 6.9%
Loading Loading 200 200 Loading 100 0%
Side view Cover plate HAZ
Clip gauge DEPO

SY295

SY295

CSY295
SYW295

STK400

SYW295

STK400
9 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 (I) -20%
9
ctilitydecrease
decrease
9 12.7 t
1 2

100
DEPO

9 12.7 -23.8%
Side view -40%
200 200 t=12.7 or 6-8 (II)
-6 -5 -4 -3 --2 -1 0
500
400
300
200
100

-50.6% -46.6%-50.3%
(III)
Ducility

-54.5% -50.8%
HAZ

-60%
Transverse weld specimen Longitudinal weld specimen
Hv Max: 213
3

Ducti
LCA-base

-80%
Base plate

Specimen configuration Transverse

Transverse Longitudinal
Longitudinal
-84.5%
-100%
Table Material properties
1. Material of steels
properties of steels LCW-cover 500
Mechanical properties Chemical compositions (wt-%) Hv Max: 421 400
3000
(b) LCW
Ultimate
Material Young's Poisson's Yield stress, Elongation, 200
modulus, stress, σ u C Si Mn P S
ratio, v σ y (MPa) ΔA (%) 100
Cover plate 300 μ m 300 μ m 300 μ m
μ
E(GPa) (MPa)
HAZ DEPO
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2
(I) (I) DEPO (II) BOND (III) HAZ
SY295 213 0.29 273 497 41 0.30 0.06 0.72 0.016 0.020
2
DEPO

CSY295 212 0.29 349 531 34 0.27 0.02 0.96 0.013 0.019 Underbead
1

(II) cracks
SYW295 213 0.28 392 513 42 0.10 0.23 1.41 0.020 0.005
-5 -4 -3 -22 -1 0
500
Hv Max: 5222 400
300
200
100

(III)
HAZ

STK400 203 0.28 362 394 41 0.12 0.10 0.56 0.013 0.006
300 μ m 300 μ m
LCW-base

Electrode - - 410 460 30 0.10 0.10 0.43 0.015 0.007 300 μ m

Base plate

(I) DEPO (II) BOND (III) HAZ

Weld orientation Ferrite+Perlite Martensite
T: transverse w w
L: longitudinal
s s
Base steel
Y: SY295 W: SYW295 h =s s h
Conclusions
TY A S: STK400 C: Corroded SY295
a a (1) Underwater fillet welds have larger strength but smaller ductility when
Welding environment compared with in-air welds. Strength increase ranges from 6.9% to 41.0%,
A: in air
W: underwater w, h =weld leg length, s =weld size, a=weld throat while ductility decrease is nearly the same at 50%.
CSY295: Corroded
CSY295 C d d SY295.
SY295 Definition of weld size
t: 6-8 mm, l: 20 mm. (2) Underwater fillet welds on corroded SY295 steels show a drastic ductility
decrease of 84.5%, resulting from mechanical mismatching and underbead
Specimen designation Maximum load cracks.
of the specimen
Ductility factor Weld strength

Δf fracture deformation of Pmax (3) The weldability of SY295 steel is undesirable in underwater welding due
Δl = the first fractured weld
σw = Average weld to its high carbon equivalent.
s na l length
Number of welds
in the specimen Average throat thickness
Contact: Department of Civil Engineering, Nagoya University
Weld size
Chikusa-ku, Furo-cho, 464-8603, Nagoya, Japan
Ductility factor Weld strength E-mail: chenxiao@civil.nagoya-u.ac.jp