X70-80 Girth weld failure

[BigInch]

25 Jan 2015 West Virginia

High frequency girth welds on high strength 5L X70 & 80 blamed for failure (tentatively). DOT is on them like white on rice. Attached correction order.

 

[Shmulik]

Is it a too crazy bet to assume that an Excessive internal High-Low misalignment + unstable soil conditions lead to stress concentration and fatigue cracking at Heat Affected Zone?

 

[weldstan]

I didn't see the welding process defined for the girth welds. The pipe long seam was HFERW manufactured by American Pipe.

I have seen some reports on at least one recently installed pipeline in the USA that indicated reject rates of radiographed girth welds at over 30%.