11/7/2019 What is the drop-weight tear test?

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WHAT IS THE DROP-WEIGHT TEAR TEST?

  

The drop weight tear test (DWTT), speci ed in API RP 5L3 or ASTM E436, was developed in the early 1960s at the Battelle Memorial

Institute, USA, to overcome some limitations of the 'Pellini' drop-weight test. Drop weight tear testing is a material characterisation test

aimed at avoiding brittle fracture and ensuring crack arrest in pipelines (seamless or welded).

The DWTT specimen is illustrated in Fig.1. The specimen is of the full material thickness (but up to 19mm only), contains a shallow

pressed notch and is loaded in three point bending. A series of specimens is broken under impact loading at a variety of temperatures

and the proportions of ductile fracture (shear) and cleavage on the fracture surfaces are measured. In this way, a transition curve of

percentage shear versus temperature is constructed for the material, see Fig.2.

Fig.1 Drop-weight tear test specimen as speci ed in ASTM E436. From Willoughby (1987)

Fig.2 Comparison between shear fracture appearance temperature transition curves of 2/3 thickness Charpy, drop weight tear and full-
scale specimens. From Eiber (1965)

From correlations with full-scale pipe burst tests, a transition temperature corresponding to between 70 and 80 percent shear is

normally stipulated in application standards at or below the minimum operating temperature together with a supplementary minimum

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avoidance of brittle fracture in pipelines (Eiber, 1965).
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11/7/2019 What is the drop-weight tear test? - TWI

The successful service record of pipelines quali ed using the test and the less than perfect correlation of Charpy properties with crack

propagation and arrest behaviour supports its continued use as a quali cation test for pipeline material.

References
1. Eiber R J: 'Correlation of full-scale tests with laboratory tests'. Proc. AGA Symposium on line-pipe research. American Gas
Association, Dallas, 1965, pp83-118.

2. API RP 5L3: 'Recommended practice for conducting drop weight tear tests on line pipe', American Petroleum Institute.

3. ASTM E436 'Standard test method for drop weight tear tests of ferritic steels', West Conshohocken, PA. American Society for
Testing and Materials.

4. Willoughby A A: 'Crack Arrest Concepts: Part 1 and 2'. TWI Research Bulletin, Vol.28, (1987), pp.235-240 and 275-277.

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