Fatores a considerar na seleção dos processos de soldagem de dutos

Abstract

The pipeline transportation is the safest and the most economical way to carry large quantities of fluids through long distances. As time goes by, more and more, kilometers of pipeline are installed for various applications around the world. In Brazil, the greatest investments in the pipeline industry has been related to the distribution of natural gas. The arc welding is the most used joining process in the construction of pipelines. There are various welding processes available for the application, each of them, with specific characteristics. The moment of selection of the welding process is of crucial importance for the development of the project. In order to facilitate the selection of the welding process to be used, it is of major importance that the characteristics of each welding process as well as each pipeline implementation project are well known. The aim of this paper is not only to evaluate and provide the detailed information on the characteristics of the most used pipeline welding process but also to relate them to the characteristics of the implementation project that have most significant influence on the welding process selection. In order to make it possible comparative studies of the welding process were made; such studies included evaluation of costs, productivity, deposition efficiency, duty cycle, operation, welder qualification, accuracy, mechanical properties. In addition, such welding process characteristics were related to the peculiarities of each project of pipeline implementation (pipe diameter, wall thickness, pipe grade, timetable, topography and labor cost) providing as final result a data base to support a better selection of the pipeline welding process selection.