I completed my Master's degree in materials science at NTNU back in 2012, with a thesis about modelling and mechanical properties of aluminium alloys. Since then, I have worked in DNV GL, mostly within quality surveillance of subsea pipeline fabrication.
During fabrication and installation offshore pipelines, welding is a very important and technical process. You need to follow the industry rules and standards, and at the same time have a high production rate. My job was to verify that these rules were followed, often by visiting the fabrication yards.
One should think that welding has become quite straightforward, given the years of experience the industry have. However, there are still many cases where poor welding quality have led to costly failures. Once you dig down in welding technology, there are always things to learn and improve, and that is why I wanted do research within this field.
The ROP project is for me very exciting, since I have experience with pipeline welding from my work. It is a highly industrial related project, and a big chance that the results can solve challenges. There is a need for more knowledge on hyperbaric welding, especially on the corrosion resistant alloys.
My work will focus on technical solutions for hyperbaric welding on pipeline materials used in the North Sea, in combination with the modelling work that is being done in the project. Hyperbaric welding chambers will be used for experimental work. The overall goal is to develop robust welding procedures for every relevant pipeline material and water depth. This is very technically challenging, but also exciting and I am looking forward start working on this.
Gunnar Sande - new PhD candidate in the ROP project
My name is Gunnar Sande, and I am a PhD student in the ROP project. For my thesis, I will focus on experimental work and the technical challenges related to the hyperbaric welding method.
