UNDERWATER WELDING Amit Mukund Joshi (Mechanical Engineer) Junior Research Fellow Mechanical Engineering Department Indian Institute of Technology I.I.T – Bombay ¾ INTRODUCTION The fact that electric arc could operate was known fo r over a 100 years. The first ever underwater welding was carried out by British Adm i ralty – Dockyard f o r sealing leaking ship rivets below the water line. Underwater welding is an im portant tool for underw ater fabrication works. In 1946, special waterproof electrodes were developed in Holland by ‘Van der W illingen’. In recent years the num ber of of f s hore structures including oil drilling rigs, pipelines, platf o rm s are being installed signif i cantly. Som e of these structures will experience failures of its elem ents during norm a l usage and during unpredicted occurrences like storm s , collisions. Any repair m e thod will require the use of underwater welding. ¾ CLASSIFICATION Underwater welding can be classified as 1) W e t W e lding 2) Dry W e lding In wet welding the welding is perform e d underwater, directly exposed to the wet environm ent. In dry welding, a dry cham ber is created near the area to be welded and the welder does the job by staying inside the cham ber. W
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 05:58:47 +0000