Fabrication

The fabrication work of pressure shaft steel liner was done by hydro mechanical
contractor near the Project site at Thalut workshop .For this purpose a temporary fully
covered workshop 10m (wide) X 50 m (long) equipped with all the modern plant and equipment
for fabrication of steel liners was setup at Thalut. The workshop also had separate sand blasting
yard, yard for radiography and special testing rig for hydrostatic testing of the shells of the
pressure shaft steel liner. For fabrication of steel liner shells a 10ton gantry was installed in the
workshop. The major equipment installed was the high speed hydraulically operated bending
machine ,capable rolling machine steel plates of size (---------) thickness . In addition to above
,marking, cutting plat-forms ,automatic gas cutting machines i.e pug cutters ,automatic machines
for submerged arc welding ,rectifiers, welding sets of 600 A for gouging work. Facilities for
non-destructive testing like X-ray radiograph ,ultrasonic testing ,dye penetration testing and
hydrostatic testing were also available. Arrangement for sand blasting and enamel painting were
also provided at workshop. The entire fabrication job at workshop was done as per ASME with
rigid quality control at all stages.

Each shell pressure shaft steel liner was provided with one longitudinal joint, and these
joints were staggered at 45 degrees . Bends and bifurcation were fabricated as per detailed
fabrication drawings.

Specifications of steel Used

The following types of steel have been used for all fabrication o penstocks at this :-

(i) Steel conforming to ASTM-A 537 Grade ‘A’ in killed condition.

The total quantity of steel used was about 1700 tonne .The details regarding length
,section ,thickness ,physical properties are in DRG no

Marking and Cutting of Plates

The first operation for fabrication of pressure shaft steel liner was layout and marking
of plates to correct dimensions was worked out .Cutting of edges and beveling was done with
indigenous oxy –acetylene automatic gas cutting machine .Templates were used during
bending to check the rolled section of plate during rolling. Special care was taken during the
marking of the plate for bifurcation .For bifurcation the co-ordinates were first calculated
theoretically for header and cones and then marked on the plates

Welding

Accurate dimensioning ,correct edge preparation ,close fit up and proper alignment
contribute to saving in consumption of weld materials and permit use of proper size electrode by
eliminating the necessity of use of smaller size electrodes to prevent burn throughs. Badly cut
joints mean wider V-groove requiring more weld metal ,necessitate building up of edges ,more
cost in back cleaning of joint ,longer time for execution and increased distortion .Over welding
and throwing away long stub ends can increase welding cost .Proper care of electrodes and
other consumables not only reduced wastage but also minimized welding defects .The
electrodes were baked for 250 degrees for one hour or two hours to drive away unwanted
moisture as low hydrogen electrodes when exposed to atmospheric air, pick up moisture a source
of hydrogen which causes under bead cracking. Baked electrodes were then stored in holding
ovens set at 120 degrees C.

Welding Procedure

The welding procedure was as per ASME section VIII

Inspection of Welds

All the longitudinal joints were tested radio graphically using Cobalt 60, 10 curie
source. Radiography was done strictly as per ASME code. Suitable identification marks of lead
numbers were placed adjacent to the weld in film holder to indicated the liner shell ,joint
number and number of film representing the location of radiograph.

Repair of welds

Sections of welds that were shown by radiography to have any of the following
imperfections ,were repaired and the repair work was also re radio graphed:

i) Any type of crack , or zone of incomplete fusion or penetration

ii) Any elongated slag inclusions .
iii) Porosity in excess of that specified by the acceptance standard.

Ultrasonic Testing

Joints such as fillet welds and triaxial welds of wye which could not be radiographed
were tested ultrasonically .The ultrasonic testing of all the plates was also carried out .The
ultrasonic testing was done according to ASTM-A 435-67 standard method and specification of
longitudinal wave –ultrasonic inspection of steel plates for pressure vessels .Fillet welds of
stiffeners were not tested.

Pre-heating

In case of ASTM A 537 steel , all joints were preheated between between 90 degrees to 150
degree Celsius irrespective of the thickness .

Hydrostatic testing
 After fabrication and NDT of all the shells of steel liner were hydrostatically tested at
pressure 150 percent of design pressure of the penstock pipe in accordance with the provisions
and procedure outlined in Para UG-99 of ASME Boiler and pressure vessel code Section VIII.
The test pressure had to be applied to the test shell thrice in succession at uniform rate and held
at prescribed test pressure for at least 30 minutes or longer until thorough visual inspection of
joints of entire shell was completed to detect any leakage or sweating from welded seams or
from plate surface of vessel .Any defects discovered during the hydrostatic testing in joints,
connections or materials were required to be repaired by the welding and the shell to be
retested till satisfaction . Actually there was no such case reported in this project.

Bifurcation hydrostatic testing

Since bifurcation welding was done at the project as it was not feasible to transport the
complete wye assembly from workshop to the project site as it was an underground. project
.Therefore all the parts of wye i.e header ,cones and sickle plate were assembled at site
performing all welding procedure and NDT .After that complete penstock branches were
welded and specially designed bulkhead were installed for performing hydrostatic testing at site.
It was successfully completed without any defects in the whole assembly.

Erection/ installation

Since in this project the whole penstock was laid underground .A pressure shaft was
excavated for laying the steel liner .Rail track was laid in the pressure shaft was movement of
specially designed trolley for carrying shells to erection site along with the manpower .A chariot
type trolley was designed which would carry the welding sets along with its accessories and the
skilled manpower .The trolley was pulled by haulage rope which was connected to electric
winch which was anchored at the top bend of the pressure shaft .The shells were transported to
upper bend by trucks and unloading these shells was done by EOT of butterfly valve . In order
to reduce the time erection the two shells were joined together and the complete assembly of 6m
straight shells were lowered by winch into the pressure shaft. The shells were aligned and
graded in position ,temporary steel supports were made to keep shell in position

Field welding

The field welding of the circumferential joint was done by ‘ ELECTRIC ARC
METHOD ‘.The layers of weld metal were deposited in such a manner as to minimize welding
stresses .Since approach to outer face of the shell was not possible after erection therefore
backing strips were provided .Each layer of the weld was cleaned of all slag and objectionable
deposit. Generally ,3.15 MM dia electrodes were used for root welding and 4mm dia electrodes
for remaining welding .Electrodes of 5mm dia were also used to sometimes by expert welds
only. The electrodes used were of specification E-7018 .All the electrodes were baked at 240 ͦC
for an hour and then stored in storage ovens set at 120 ͦC before their actual use. The field
welding of the wye and branches was intricate job. It was done very carefully by most
competent welders in the same manner. The field welds were also radiographically tested for 10
percent length including all T-joints .

Backfilling by concrete around steel liners

As soon as field welding and testing of the liner was completed for particular reach , the
backfilling by M-10 concrete using concrete pump was carried out so that the alignment of the
steel liner did not change.

Field painting

After completion of erection and NDT Testing of the pressure shaft steel liner two coats
of enamel paint were done as per approved drawings.