READY RECKONER FOR PIPING WELDING & NDT

PIPING
REFERENCE CODES:
ASME Sec.IX
ANSI B 3I.3
ANSI B 3I.4
ANSI B 3I.8
ASME Sec. VIII DIV.I
ASME Sec. V
ASME Sec. II Part C
NACE-MR-01-75-/ISO 15156
SNT-TC-1A

GENERAL TECHNICAL NOTES

1. Low hydrogen electrodes shall be used for structural and piping

welding.(e.g .E 7018 etc.)

2. Consumables for material confirning to NACE requirements shall have

physical, chemical, fatigue and corrosion resistance properties
comparable to base metal.(e.g.E7018-1)

3. Welding shall be carried out as per approved WPS. For structural and
carbon steel piping, previously qualified WPS are acceptable subject to
the PQR’S have been qualified in the presence of reputed IIIrd party
inspection agency.

4. For entire piping welding involving Corrosion Resistant Alloys

(CRA) including CS-NACE, Cu-Ni, S.S and D.S.S etc, previously
qualified procedures are not acceptable . L&T shall qualify new
procedures for entire piping welding involving CRA materials.

5. NDT FOR: CS PIPING

5.1 Random radiography (10%) shall be performed covering on one weld in

each 10 welds for each welder on the following:

a) Water (in case of carbon steel)

b) Air
 c) Chemical
d) Diesel
e) Closed drain
f) Relief
g) Hydraulic Oil
h) Oily water
i) Sloop
j) Glycol & Therminal
k) Vent gas
l) Lube oil & Seal oil

5.2 50% Radiography shall be performed on size 2” and above

and 10% on below 2” for the following:
a) crude oil
b) Jet fuel
c) Fuel gas/ instrument gas
d) Process gas
e) Production flow lines (well fluid)
f) Injection water
g) Hydrocarbon (process)
h) Water (in case of 90/10 Cu-Ni)
i) H. P. and L. P. Flare lines.
5.3 For fillet welds and brazed joints where carrying out radiography is not
possible, magnetic particle test or dye penetrant test shall be carried out .
The extent of inspection shall remain same as for radiography.
5.4 All the lines which are stress relieved or have design pressure more than
50 Kg/cm2 shall be radiographed for 50% of weld joints even if not
required as per 5.1 to 5.2
5.5 Radiographic procedure shall be as per ANSI B 3I.3
5.6 Acceptance criteria based on visual, radiography and other types of
examination shall be as per ANSI B 3I.3 with the following modifications:
a) The internal weld protrusion on pigged lines “ shall not exceed
1.6/mm (1/6 Inch)”
b) Orifice flange butt-weld shall be internally ground smooth and
flush.
c) For 90/10 Cu-Ni piping, radiograph examination of welds shall be
as per ASME section VIII, UW 51
5.7 Those field welded joints, which can not be leak tested due to unavoidable
reason shall always be 100% radio graphed.
 NDT FOR CS NACE PIPING: Butt welds: 100% RT & Hardness
testing Fillet weld: 100% MPI / DP & hardness testing
6. NDT PROCEDURES & DOCUMENTS:
a) Piping: ANSI B 3I.3/ ASME Sec. V.

7. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA FOR NDT

a) Piping RT CS: ANSI B 3I.3

CS (NACE) & CuNi : ASME Sec VIII Div I
UW – 51
UT/MPI/DP: ANSI B 3I.3
lack of fusion or lack of penetration is not acceptable.

8. NDT Personnel : All NDT personnel shall be currently qualified

under ASNT Level II (as per SNT-TC-IA) or client approved
equivalent certification scheme (like PCN, CSWIP) for the
category of nondestructive examination being undertaken.

9. Only two times repairs are allowed on any joint after that cut &
re-weld the same joint.

10. Welding shall not be performed when the ambient temperature is lower
than zero degree C, when surfaces are wet or exposed to rain, snow or
high wind velocities, when welders are exposed to inclement conditions,
or when conditions prevent required inspections.

11. Only welding equipment that is in good working condition and that is
properly grounded shall be used. All welding machines shall be calibrated
prior to commencement of fabrication and calibration certificates shall be
available for audits. Certification shall be valid for 6 month periods, or as
per manufacturer’s recommendation:

12. Starting of Arc should be made on weld groove. Arc strikes on the surface
of base metal shall be removed by grinding, including any hardened zone
beneath the strike. Any such repair shall be visually and magnetic particle
inspected.

TECHNICAL NOTES FOR PIPING WELDING

1. The quality of welding shall be such that a weld efficiency factor as defined in
ASME B 3I.3 of 1.0 is achieved.
2. All low hydrogen flux coated electrodes shall be heated before use by holding in a
drying oven for a minimum period of 24 hours at a temperature of 149C
(300F) minimum to 204C (400F) maximum, or strictly as per the electrode
manufacturers’ recommendations. They shall then be stored in heating quivers
at about 70C (158F) till use. All low hydrogen flux coated electrodes shall
be used within 4 hours after removal from the oven. Welding materials left
unnecessarily exposed to moisture contamination shall be discarded.

SOUR SERVICE (CS NACE) WELDING :

1. Welding procedure to be used in sour service shall be qualified
with Vickers Hardness Testing. The maximum Vickers Hardness Number
shall be 248 Hv10 or 22 HRC.
FIELD WELDING:

1. Additional field fit welds may be included in a spool by the

L&T.

WELD PROCEDURES & DOCUMENTATION:

1. Weld procedures shall be qualified as per ASME B31.3 (except 90-10

Cu-Ni) or ASME Code Section IX (For Cu –Ni Piping). NDT shall be
performed as per ASME B31.3/ASME BPV Code Section-v.

WELDERS’ QUALIFICATION:
1.Welders and welding procedures shall be qualified as ASME
Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section IX.

REPAIRS:

1.Repair of weld defects shall be made using the approved

welding procedure.
2. Only two times repairs are allowed on any joint after
that cut & re-weld the same joint.

3. Mechanical defects such as scratches and gouges may be ground

smooth provided the depth of the defect does not exceed 10% of
the nominal wall thickness of the pipe.
 4. Dents or grooves who’s depth is greater than 10% of the nominal
pipe wall thickness shall be removed by cutting out and
replacing that length of pipe in which the defect occurs. The
minimum length of a cutout shall be four times the nominal
diameter or 150 mm, whichever is the lesser.

HEAT TREATMENT :

Preheat and post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) shall be in

accordance with ASME B 3I.3 for piping & ASME B 3I.4 or
ASME B 3I.8 for pipelines as applicable
As per ASME B31.3 Preheat & Post weld heat treatment(PWHT)
shall be done for piping system having thickness equal & more than
19mm.

PIPING :

1) Water (in case of C.S.), Air, Chemical, Diesel,

Closed drain, Relief, Hydraulic oil, Oily water,
Slop lines (Refer Note : 6).
Butt joints. 10% - - 100%
Fillet joints. - - 10% 100%

2) Glycol & Therminal, Vent gas, Lube oil & seal oil lines.
(Refer Note :6).
Butt joints. 10% - - 100%
Fillet joints. - - 10% 100%
3) Crude oil, Jet fuel, Fuel gas/Instrument gas, Process gas, Production flow lines (well
fluid) Injection water, Hydrocarbons (Process), water (in case of 90/10 Cu_Ni), H.P.
and L.P. flare lines.

i) If pipe size is 2" or above

Butt joints. 50% - - 100%
Fillet joints. - - 50% 100%

ii) If pipe size is below 2" (Refer Note :6).

Butt joints. 10% - - 100%
Fillet joints. - - 10% 100%

4) All lines which are stress releived or have design pressure more than 50 Kg/Sq.cm.
Even if random radiography specified in SL.No.13,14,15

Butt joints. 50% - - 100%

Fillet joints. - - 50% 100%

5) C.S. (NACE) Welds (Refer Note - 9,11 and 14)

Butt joints. 100% - - 100%

Fillet joints. - - 100% 100%
 GENERAL NOTES
1) Partial inspection should be conducted as 10 % of each piece, not 100 % of
specified percent of the number of pieces. Partial inspection should include a
minimum of three segments randomly selected unless specific problem are
known or suspected to exist. All suspect areas (e.g. areas of tack welds) shall
be included in the areas to be inspected. If rejectable flaws are found from
such 10% inspection, additional inspection should be performed until the
extent of rejects has been determined and the cause corrected.

2) Partial areas of truss joints where UT is not possible due to inaccessibility ,

specific area shall be MPT checked.
3) For SL. No. 15 (ii) fillet welds & brazed joints shall be MT or PT tested to
the same extend specified.
4) Repaired defects shall be re-inspected 100% by the same criteria as used for
original inspection.
5) If random NDT as specified indicates non-acceptable defects in weld, the
identification of the weld to the respective welder(s) shall be established &
testing of other two welds made by same welder(s) shall be extended for that
isometric / NDT Drawing.
5A) Additional Radiographic testing of welds, for non-accepted welds shall be
carried out as per AWS D1.1. for structural welds ,while for piping it shall be
carried out as per ASME B 31.3.
6) Radiography shall performed in each of 10% welds of each
welder/process/Isometric as mentioned in SL.No. 13,14 and 15(ii)
7) Those field-welded joints that can not be hydro tested due to unavoidable
reasons, shall be 100% radiographed in case of butt joints & 100% MT/DT
tested in case of fillet/brazed joints.
8) MT can be substituted by DPT & vice versa, unless specified.
9) For each weld of C.S NACE hardness shall not exceed RC22 (248 Vickers)
10) The area of structural steel plates where attachments like pad-eyes,
Temporary supports etc. are to be welded shall be ultrasonically tested for
laminations up to a distance of 100mm from the weld areas on all sides prior
to welding. Acceptance standard shall be level II of ASTM A 578.

11)All welds shall be 100% visually examined.

12) For conformance of repair the same NDT method used for detecting the
repair shall be applied.
13) All arc strike areas shall be ground and checked by MT only.
14) All welds in material over 19mm thick shall , in addition to radiographic
requirements,
be 100% ultrasonically tested. If a single wall single image radiography
technique is used the material thickness limit of 19mm can be extended to
30mm.
15) All welds requiring PWHT shall have the required NDT carried out after
the PWHT.
16) For shorter length joints like stiffener plate joints, TKY joints of
conductor guide to tubular etc., partial inspection shall be based upon number
of joints.
17) In case of Partial NDT requirements , spool shall be cleared
Isometric wise and hydrotest loop shall be cleared loop wise.