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Fabrication and Welding Requirements for Aluminum

All welding work shall be according to recommendations given in EN 1011, Part 4. The fabricator shall have a quality system, which fulfil the relevant part of EN 729 and the applicable level of EN 719. The fabricator shall develop a weld numbering system for identification on shop drawings.

Temporary cut-outs shall not be located in restricted areas as shown on design drawings. Temporary cut outs shall have a corner radius not less than 100 mm. Temporary cut-outs shall be closed by refitting the same or an equivalent plate and employing the same welding, inspection and documentation procedures and requirements that govern the structural part in question.

Structural members distorted by welding shall be straightened according to detailed work instruction. Buttering shall be carried out in accordance with design drawings and a relevant WPS.

Preparation for welding

All areas to be included in a weld shall be cleaned by mechanical means to remove surface oxide followed by solvent cleaning. The time interval between cleaning and welding shall be as short as possible and shall not exceed 4 hours.

Welding consumables

For selection of welding consumable reference is made to NORSOK M-121 table 5.1. The manufacturers shall ensure that welding consumables applied for joints meet the requirements for mechanical properties as specified for the welding procedure qualification. This may be achieved through Batch testing including chemical analysis and mechanical properties, see Annex B.

Preheat and interpass temperature Preheating above 50ºC should be avoided.

If not otherwise stated in the WPS, and qualified by the WPAR, the maximum interpass temperature shall not exceed 100°C measured at the edge of the weld groove.

Production welding

Welding shall be carried out in accordance with the WPS and applicable drawings. Butt welds welded without backing shall, whenever possible, be welded from both sides.

Temporary attachments as lifting lugs, lugs for scaffolding and assembly, supports for cables, equipment, ladders or other fabrication and erection aids should be removed. If indicated on design drawings that removal (full or partial) is not required, the temporary attachments may be left as is, or removed only partially.

All welding of attachments shall comply with the requirements for the structure to which they are attached. Temporary attachments shall be cut minimum 3 mm from the base metal and ground. The ground area shall be visually examined.

Grinding and preparation for coatings

When grinding is specified on design drawings or is instructed as a corrective action, the grinding shall be performed according to a detailed procedure. Grinding tools, direction, surface roughness and final profile shall be specified. Reference samples for typical joints and sections may be prepared and used for acceptance of treated welds. Typical examples of requirements for grinding of joints are given in Annex A.

Edges of plates and sections which are intended to be coated shall be rounded to approximately 2 mm radius, unless stated otherwise on design drawings.

Fabrication and Welding Requirements for Aluminum

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