Support Ring and Fabrication Method for Subsea Pipelines

Abstract

A support ring supports a welding ring to guide welding bugs around a coated pipe section. The support ring has a tubular body to support the welding ring, the body having substantially circular curvature around a longitudinal axis. At least one grounding extension connected to the body is offset longitudinally and radially outwardly with respect to the body and the longitudinal axis. This allows the grounding extension to lie radially outboard of a parent coating of the pipe section while the body encircles a cut-back end zone where the parent coating has been cut back. Pipe sections abutting end-to-end for welding can each be fitted with these support rings. This enables welding rings to encircle both of the cut-back end zones and allows effective grounding connections to be made without enlarging the cut-back end zones.

Claims

1. A support ring for supporting a welding ring to encircle a pipe section, the support ring having: a tubular body with substantially circular curvature around a longitudinal axis to support the welding ring; and at least one grounding extension connected to the body; wherein the grounding extension is offset longitudinally and radially outwardly with respect to the body and the longitudinal axis.

2. The support ring of claim 1, wherein the or each grounding extension has ground connector provisions to which one or more earthing wires can be attached.

3. The support ring of claim 1, comprising a step extending in a radially-outward direction between the body and the or each grounding extension to connect the extension to the body and to effect the radial offset of the extension with respect to the body.

4. The support ring of claim 3, wherein the step is joined directly to the body, or wherein the step is joined to the body via a longitudinally-extending tab.

5. The support ring of claim 4, wherein when the step is joined directly to the body, the step is joined to the body at a longitudinal edge of the body.

6. (canceled)

7. The support ring of claim 3, wherein the step is joined to a longitudinal edge of the grounding extension.

8. The support ring of claim 1, wherein the or each grounding extension is cantilevered from the body to extend longitudinally from the body.

9. The support ring of claim 1, wherein the body is rigidly connected to the or each grounding extension.

10. The support ring of claim 1, wherein the tubular body comprises at least two part-tubular part-rings each of substantially part-circular section to complete a substantially circular ring when brought together.

11. The support ring of claim 1, further comprising welding rings integrated with or removably attachable to the tubular body.

12. The support ring of claim 1, wherein the tubular body has a stepped radially inner face, that face comprising a radially inner portion longitudinally offset from a radially outer portion with respect to the longitudinal axis.

13. The support ring of claim 12, wherein the radially outer portion is disposed between the radially inner portion and the grounding extension in the longitudinal direction.

14. In combination, the support ring of claim 1 fitted to a pipe section, wherein: the tubular body encircles a cut-back end zone where a parent coating of the pipe section has been cut back; and the grounding extension lies radially outboard of the parent coating of the pipe section.

15. The combination of claim 14, further comprising a welding ring supported by and encircling the tubular body to provide a circumferentially-extending track for one or more welding bugs.

16. The combination of claim 14, wherein two pipe sections disposed end-to-end are each fitted with a respective support ring, the grounding extension of each support ring being connected to at least one grounding wire.

17. A method of butt-welding pipe sections, the method comprising: fitting a tubular body to at least one of the pipe sections around an end zone where a parent coating of the pipe section has been cut back, to support a welding ring encircling the cut-back end zone of the pipe section; positioning at least one grounding formation radially outboard of the parent coating of the pipe section, the grounding formation being connected to the tubular body and offset longitudinally and radially outwardly with respect to the tubular body and a central longitudinal axis of the pipe section; connecting at least one grounding wire to the or each grounding formation; and supplying electric arc welding power to at least two welding bugs on the welding ring with current flowing through the or each grounding wire, to weld together the pipe sections.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising positioning the grounding formation simultaneously with fitting the tubular body around the cut-back end zone.

19. The method of claim 17, comprising fitting the tubular body around the cut-back end zone before lining-up the pipe sections end-to-end.

20. The method of claim 17, comprising fitting respective tubular bodies around the cut-back end zones of each of the pipe sections.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising mounting at least two welding bugs on one of the welding rings and at least one welding bug on the other of the welding rings.

Description

[0054] In order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0055] FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a pipelaying vessel performing an S-lay operation as known in the prior art;

[0056] FIGS. 2 to 5 are perspective views of coated pipe joints being butt-welded end-to-end, each pipe joint being fitted with a support ring of the invention to support a respective welding ring mounted with welding bugs;

[0057] FIG. 6 is a side view in longitudinal section corresponding to FIG. 5; and

[0058] FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a variant of the support ring of the invention.

[0059] Reference has already been made to FIG. 1 to outline an S-lay operation. Whilst the invention has particular benefits in the context of an S-lay operation as illustrated in FIG. 1, it may also be used with benefit when fabricating subsea pipelines in other circumstances, such as on a J-lay vessel offshore or at a spoolbase onshore.

[0060] Turning now to FIGS. 2 to 6, like numerals are used for like features. These drawings show coated pipe joints 12 being butt-welded together end-to-end in accordance with the invention. This operation is apt to be performed at a welding station 16 on the firing line of a pipelaying vessel 10 as shown in FIG. 1. The welding operation is performed after preparatory steps such as cutting-back the parent coatings 32 and before subsequent steps such as weld testing and field joint coating. Those subsequent steps are typically performed at following stations 20, 22 on the firing line as also shown in FIG. 1.

[0061] FIG. 6 best shows that the parent coatings 32 of the pipe joints 12 each comprise a thin inner layer 34 of, for example, FBE applied directly to the outer metal surface of the underlying pipe 36, surrounded by a much thicker outer layer 38 of, for example, PP or concrete.

[0062] Short lengths of pipe 36 have been left uncoated at the adjoining ends of the pipe joints 12 by previously cutting away some of the parent coatings 32. The resulting cut-back zones 40 extend in opposed proximal directions away from the abutting distal ends of the pipe joints 12. Thus, the cut distal edges of the parent coatings 32 are stepped back proximally from the adjacent distal ends of the underlying pipes 36. Here, the cut edges of the outer layers 38 of the parent coatings 32 are cut straight but they could instead be chamfered.

[0063] Each pipe joint 12 is fitted with a metallic support ring 42 in accordance with the invention. For this purpose, each support ring 42 has a tubular body 44 that encircles and clamps around the cut-back zone 40 of a pipe joint 12. In this example, the tubular body 44 comprises two substantially half-tubular part-rings, each being of part-circular section with an axis of curvature that coincides with the common central longitudinal axis 46 of the pipe joints 12. The part-rings are joined on one side by hinges 48 shown in FIG. 3 and on the other side by latches or fasteners 50 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 to complete a substantially circular ring when brought together around the pipe joints 12.

[0064] Welding rings 52 are attached to the respective tubular bodies 44 of the support rings 42 to encircle the cut-back zones 40 of the pipe joints 12. The welding rings 52 lie parallel to each other in spaced longitudinal relation about the joint 54 to be welded.

[0065] Bugs 56 mounted on the welding rings 52 are driven along the welding rings 52 and hence around the pipe joints 12. The bugs 56 move circumferentially around the pipe joints 12 so that welding heads 58 carried by the bugs 56 can run successive weld beads within a groove 60 at the joint 54 defined between the abutting ends of the pipe joints 12. Services including power, data connections, shielding gas and welding wire are fed continuously to the welding heads 58 during welding.

[0066] For ease of illustration, each welding ring 52 is shown supporting one bug 56. However, in practice, one of the welding rings 52 may support two bugs 56 and the other of the welding rings 52 may support at least one bug 56, but preferably two bugs 56.

[0067] Each support ring 42 further comprises a grounding extension 62 that is connected rigidly and integrally to the tubular body 44. The grounding extension 62 comprises a part-tubular plate whose curvature is also substantially centred on the central longitudinal axis 46. The plate extends partially around the circumference of the body 44 and is cantilevered from the proximal side of the body 44 to extend away from the distal end of the pipe joint 12.

[0068] A step 64 at a proximal longitudinal edge of the body 44 extends in a radially-outward direction between the body 44 and a distal longitudinal edge of the grounding extension 62 to connect the extension 62 to the body 44. In this example, the step 64 lies in a plane that is substantially orthogonal to the central longitudinal axis 46.

[0069] By virtue of the step 64, the grounding extension 62 is offset longitudinally and radially outwardly with respect to the body 44 and the central longitudinal axis 46. The radial offset exceeds the thickness of the parent coatings 32. This positions the grounding extension 62 radially outboard of the parent coating 32 of the pipe joint 12 and so avoids enlarging the cut-back zone 40 or impinging on the cut-back zone 40 of the other pipe joint 12.

[0070] The grounding extensions 62 of the support rings 42 each have connector formations 66 to which one or more earthing wires 68 can be attached by locking pliers 70.

[0071] FIG. 6 shows that the cut edges of the parent coatings 32 are stepped in this example. The cut-back zones 40 each comprise a narrow circumferential band 72 of bare metal extending proximally from the distal end of the underlying pipe 36, where the inner layer 34 is ground or machined away, which band 72 is disposed on the distal side of an adjoining circumferential band 74 of the inner layer 34. The distal edge of the inner layer 34 between those bands 72, 74 forms a first, shallow step 76 in the cut edge of the parent coating 32. Conversely, the cut distal edge of the outer layer 38 forms a second, radially-larger step 78 in the cut edge of the parent coating 32, disposed proximally with respect to the first step 76.

[0072] The tubular body 44 of each support ring 42 has a stepped radially inner face to match the stepped profile in the cut-back zone 40 between the bare metal of the pipe 36 and the inner layer 34 of the parent coating 32. That radially inner face comprises a radially inner portion 80 that is offset longitudinally from a radially outer portion 82 with respect to the central longitudinal axis 48. The radially outer portion 82 is disposed between the radially inner portion 80 and the grounding extension 62 in the longitudinal direction.

[0073] Turning finally to FIG. 7 of the drawings, this shows a support ring 84 that is a variant of the support ring 42 of FIGS. 2 to 6. The support ring 84 conveniently illustrates optional features of the invention that may be adopted individually or in any combination.

[0074] One optional feature shown in FIG. 7 is that the step 64 between the tubular body 44 and the grounding extension 62 is joined to the body 44 indirectly via a longitudinally-extending tab 86. The tab 86 is cantilevered from the body 44 and lies on the same radius as the body 44 with respect to the longitudinal axis 46.

[0075] Another optional feature shown in FIG. 7 is that the support ring 84 comprises or supports a shield 88 providing a thermal screen to protect the underlying pipe joint 12 from radiant heat or spattering from the welding process. Any spatters adhering to the pipe joint 12 would otherwise need to be removed after weld completion and before NDT.

[0076] Conveniently, the shield 88 may be provided on, or supported by, the step 64 between the tubular body 44 and the grounding extension 62. In this example, the shield 88 extends around a similar arc to a half-ring of the body 44 so as to form a full circumferential screen when two half-rings are brought together around a pipe joint 12.

[0077] FIG. 7 also shows that any part of the support ring 84 may include provisions for cooling, such as the tubular body 44, the grounding extension 62 or a shield 88. Such provisions may comprise water channels 90 for water cooling.

[0078] Another optional feature shown in FIG. 7 is a pair of thermally-insulating handles 92 extending laterally from the support ring 84 so that welding operatives can remove the support ring 84 after welding as quickly as possible. The welding operatives will wear safety gloves but the temperature of the support ring 84 may be high. The tab 86 provides a convenient location for one or more handles 92 as shown. However, any location that does not block the welding equipment and hence is away from the tubular body 44 could be used for the or each handle 92, such as on the grounding extension 62, on the step 64 or on the thermal shield 88.