TY - CONF A1 - Reichel, Levin A1 - Schroepfer, Dirk A1 - Kromm, Arne A1 - Kannengiesser, Thomas T1 - Stress-Optimised Welding Repair for High-Strength Offshore Steel Joints N2 - The successful energy transition in Germany will require offshore wind turbines with outputs >10 MW in the future. To achieve these high outputs, turbines far from the coast are required, featuring large subsea jacket structures (30 m up to 50 m) and tall towers (up to 200 m). High-strength steels with a yield strengths up to 500 MPa and wall thicknesses of up to 120 mm are increasingly being used for these structures. During manufacture, weld defects detected by non-destructive testing (NDT) require localized repair (gouging and rewelding). To date, there is a lack of repair concepts and information in standards and guidelines. Therefore, BAM initiated the FOSTA project P1629 (IGF 01IF22746N) to investigate the stress-optimized repair (local gouging and welding) of high-strength thick plate joints made of offshore grades in the yield strength range off 355 to 460 MPa and similar weld metal. This research aims to develop a stress-optimized repair concept for thick plate joints, using controlled high-performance GMAW processes and optimized, narrow gouging grooves. Thermal and mechanical gouging are performed, allowing the groove configuration to be modified. Modern welding processes provide deep root penetration and focused energy input capable of welding narrow seams. The aimed residual stress reduction can be attributed to the lower input of weld metal due to the changes in groove configuration and to the reduction in heat input per layer due to the controlled arc process. The experimental analyses take into account the interaction of process, material, and design-related influences on the formation of weld induced stresses. Concluding with recommendations for guidelines elaborated for steel-processing SMEs. T2 - MPA Stuttgart 2025 CY - Stuttgart, Germany DA - 06.10.2025 KW - Repair welding KW - Residual stress KW - High-strength steels KW - Gouging KW - Modern welding processes PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64347 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hübner, Martin A1 - Reichel, Levin A1 - Schröpfer, Dirk A1 - Kromm, Arne A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas T1 - Modern welding processes for optimising repair welds on high strength offshore steels N2 - The successful energy transition in Germany will require offshore wind turbines with outputs >10 MW in the future. To achieve these high outputs, turbines far from coast are required with large subsea jacket structures (30 m up to 50 m) and tall towers (up to 200 m). High-strength steels with a yield strength up to 500 MPa and wall thicknesses up to 150 mm are increasingly being used for these structures. This plac-es high demands on welding manufacturing, especially for high-strength offshore steels. During the manu-facturing process detected defects by NDT require localized repair of welds by gouging and rewelding. Due to a lack of investigations, there are no repair concepts and information in standards and guidelines, par-ticularly for high-strength thick plate joints made of high-strength offshore steels. However, these are ur-gently needed to enable manufacturers, especially SMEs, to carry out safe and economical repairs. There-fore, BAM started the FOSTA project P1629 (IGF 01IF22746N) to investigate the stress-optimized repair (local gouging and welding) of high-strength thick plate joints made of offshore grades in the yield strength range off 355 to 460 MPa and similar weld metal with controlled high-performance GMAW pro-cesses and optimized narrow gouging grooves. The experimental analyses take into account the complex interaction of process, material, and design-related influences on the formation of weld induced stresses and the special microstructure of high-strength fine-grain structural steels. Welding-related material degra-dation and crack-critical residual tensile stresses need to be avoided to ensure high component safety and performance. A reduction in residual stress in the presence of high restraint conditions can be achieved by adapted heat control (if no disassembly measures are possible). The repair process involves manual thermal gouging, which allows the groove configuration to be modi-fied. Modern welding processes using high frequency arc control provide deep root penetration and focused energy input capable of welding narrow seams. A comparison was made between the traditional weld con-figuration with a wide 45° groove and transition arc welding and a narrow 30° groove with modern welding process. Even in the case of free shrinkage specimens, the narrow groove weld exhibits a significant reduc-tion of residual stresses, cf. Figure 1, especially in the HAZ and toward the adjacent base material. This can be attributed to the lower weld metal volume needed and the reduction of heat input per layer due to the controlled arc process. For the purposes of this comparison, the same weld seam build-up (but different number of layers) has been applied to both seam configurations. Note that in industrial application (manu-al welding), the wider groove would be welded with several off-center weld beads with conventional weld-ing process. In this analysis this would cause asymmetric effects regarding the residual stress state, diffi-cult to compare to each other. Component-related welding experiments on special testing equipment, adapted process and heat control concepts along with variable groove configurations will be developed and recommendations for guidelines elaborated. This is the prerequisite for fully utilizing the strength potential of high-strength steels and making a valuable contribution to the energy transition in Germany, especially for steel-processing SMEs. T2 - IIW Intermediate Meeting CII CY - Trollhättan, Sweden DA - 10.03.2025 KW - Repair welding KW - Gouging KW - Residual stress KW - Offshore wind turbines KW - High-strength steels PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62743 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Reichel, Levin T1 - Residual stress formation during repeated gouging and repair welding cycles of high-strength steels N2 - The construction of foundation and erection structures for wind power plants requires the use of modern, sustainable and resource-efficient high-strength fine-grained structural steels. Weld defects due to the welding process are unacceptable. To overcome this issue, local thermal gouging followed by re-welding is a common and cost-effective method. The high shrinkage restraint of the gouge by the surrounding structure can cause crack initiation when design and re-weld induced residual stresses are superimposed. This risk is intensified by the progressive degradation of the microstructure and mechanical properties of high-strength steels during the weld repair process. This investigation focuses on high-strength steels S500MLO for offshore applications and S960QL for mobile crane applications. The reduction and development of residual stresses caused by local thermal gouging and re-welding was investigated. Digital Image Correlated (DIC) stress-strain analysis was performed during preheating, welding and cooling. The results of the global DIC analysis and local longitudinal and transverse residual stresses of the weld determined by X-ray diffraction were found to be in good agreement. Furthermore, different stress levels were identified during gouging and welding. Repeated repair cycles led to an increase of longitudinal and transverse residual stresses in the weld metal as well as a hardness increase in the heat affected zone. T2 - European Conference on Residual Stresses - ECRS11 CY - Prague, Czech Republic DA - 03.06.2024 KW - Repair welding KW - Gouging KW - Residual stress KW - Repair cycles KW - High-strength steels PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60215 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -