Conflict in welder/WPS qualification requirements?

By justinmskay Date 08-21-2012 17:12

We qualified a procedure for welding of tubular T-,Y-, and K-connections with backing per paragraph 4.13.2 and Table 4.1 in the Qualification chapter of D1.1.

We used a 6.625” nominal OD x 0.250” wall thickness pipe coupon. According to 4.19.3, the welder of a successful procedure test sample is automatically qualified to weld to that procedure. However, the coupon we used to qualify the procedure doesn’t fit within the dimensional parameters of Table 4.11. Therefore, I seemingly have no way to assign thickness and diameter limitations to the welder’s qualification. Am I missing something?

Thanks for your reply.

By 803056

Date 08-21-2012 21:18

Yes.

Look at table 4.11.

Al

By justinmskay Date 08-27-2012 17:39

Thank you for your response. However, I have looked quite extensively at that table. Something I should have mentioned is that this procedure is for production T-, Y-, and K-connection groove welds.

I am looking under "Production T-, Y-, or K-connection CJP groove welds," and I do not see any place in that section of the table that includes the coupon we used to qualify the welder, even though it fits just fine with the procedure that we ran. Perhaps this will better explain my question, and yield a more helpful response.

Thanks again for replying.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 08-27-2012 18:03

I see what you're saying in that the test didn't fit the dimns listed in the Table. The Table shows using 1/2" wall and your welder qualified using 1/4" wall......I'd be inclined to use 3/16 to 2T(1/2") as the qualified thickness range, similar to a plate test where the plate is less than 1" and qualifies the welder to weld fron 1/8" to 2 times the test thickness(2T).

By justinmskay Date 08-27-2012 18:37

Thank you for your response. I pretty much ended up doing what you were saying. I basically just used the limitations from the procedure we ran as the welder's limits as well, which gave me 1/4" to 1/2", due to limits imposed by the supplementary essential variables required for CVN applications. Thankfully, that limited range covers all the wall thicknesses on the job.

These qualifications get repeatedly reviewed, and I'm sure if someone disagrees, I will hear about it. Thanks again for your helpful response.

By 803056

Date 08-27-2012 18:52 Edited 08-28-2012 04:04

D1.1-2010

Review: The welder qualified the procedure using pipe and a standard V-groove with backing. The diameter was 6 inch and the wall was 1/4 inch thick.

Moving to Table 4.11 (2); the welder is qualified 4 inch or larger (tested on larger than 4 inch). Tested on wall equal to or less than 3/8 inch wall thickness, so his range of qualifications is 4 inch diameter or larger, 1/8 inch wall through 3/4 inch wall.

T, Y, and K: The welder is qualified for butt joints in tubulars and PJP in T, Y, and K joints, but no CJP without backing or back gouging. He would be qualified for any prequalified joint detail shown in Figure 3.8 that utilizes a "back up weld" which for the purpose of D1.1 serves a similar function as backing.

The welder is not bound by the limitations on thickness when the WPS is qualified for impact toughness, thus the upper thickness for the welder qualification is 3/4 inch rather than 1/2 inch as is the WPS.

At least that's how I read it.

Best regards - Al