• Chen, Xiao
• Kitane, Yasuo
• Itoh, Yoshito

Abstract

Underwater wet welding is one of the most common repair measures for corroded offshore steel structures. Few studies have been carried out systematically concerned with mechanical properties of such welds, thus current design provisions rely heavily on limited experimental data on welds made underwater and design properties for corresponding welds made in air. This paper presents a series of experiments on forty-five fillet welded specimens featuring welding both in air and underwater. Weld strength and ductility of fillet welds are examined through strength tests, which are also complemented by Vickers hardness tests and microstructure examination to better understand the weld details. The tested parameters include two welding environments, two weld orientations, two base structural types, and four base steels. Based on the tests, differences between underwater and in-air fillet welds are examined in terms of strength, ductility, and failure modes, underwater weldability of base steels is also evaluated.<br/>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• microstructure
• experiment
• strength
• steel
• hardness
• ductility