Defence Business_Issue 41 (Nov 17 – Jan 18)_DTC_Web

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K-TIG’s Role in the Construction of the Acueducto
Gran San Juan Water Pipeline
K-TIG is playing a significant role in the construction of the US$170 million
Acueducto Gran San Juan-a 50km (31 mile) pipeline that will transport safe drinking
water to San Juan in Argentina. Of the 50km of pipeline, 15km will be fabricated by
Industrias Metalurgicas Jaime SRL in 1600mm (63 inch) diameter, 9mm (3/8 inch) thick
stainless steel using K-TIG. This 15km of pipeline represents almost half of the project’s
total investment.
Just four months into this huge project, the productivity gains delivered by K-TIG
have proven to be remarkable. The fabrication of the pipeline is set for completion an
astonishing 550 days ahead of schedule-from 720 days, down to just 162 days.
Both the longitudinal and circumferential weld seams in the pipeline are being
welded in a single, full penetration pass. The resulting welds are x-ray quality, the caps
and roots are smooth and clean, and no post-weld grinding is required. There is no weld
preparation needed, and K-Tig is using a fraction of the gas and wire that would have
been consumed with other conventional welding processes.
K-TIG became involved in the Acueducto Gran San Juan at the request of
Industrias Metalurgicas Jaime SRL.
Gustavo Gonzalez (one of the owners of Puertotrans SRL) explains, “Before they
started the project, Industrias Metalurgicas Jaime SRL came to me asking for the best
welding method available in the market. They wanted to use the ultimate in technology
because of the magnitude of the project and what it represents for the people of San
Juan and Argentina-there is no other pipeline in Argentina or even South America with
the same characteristics. They also wanted to reduce costs whilst still achieving the best
possible quality,” said Gonzalez.
”Two years ago, the best welding method we had for this project was submerged
arc welding. It seemed that this would be the best welding process to use. But, after
some research on new welding technology, I found K-TIG. This was a major turning
point. The more I studied K-TIG, the more I needed to know.”
WHAT DISTINGUISHES K-TIG FROM SUBMERGED ARC WELDING?
Submerged Arc Welding (or SAW welding) is a process that has been in use
since 1935. The process requires a continuously fed consumable electrode. The weld is
protected from atmospheric contamination by being “submerged” under a thick layer of
granular flux which typical! consists lime, silica, manganese oxide, calcium fluoride, and
other compounds. As it becomes molten, the flux becomes conductive and provides a
current path between the electrode and the material being welded. The flux covering the
molten metal helps to reduce sparks and spatter, and suppresses the intense ultraviolet
radiation and fumes that are generated.
In contrast, K-TIG (Keyhole TIG) is a high energy density variant of GTAW. K-TIG is
a high speed, single pass, full penetration welding technology which welds up to a 100
times faster than GTAW/TIG in materials up to 16mm (5/8 inch) in thickness, and typically
operates at twice the speed of plasma welding
Up to 15kms of the Acueducto Gran Tulum will be constructed from 9mm (3/8
inch) thick stainless steel. K-TIG can comfortably perform full penetration welds on
stainless steel up to 13mm (1/2 inch) thick in a single pass. SAW, on the other hand, has
limited penetrative capabilities, with single pass penetration only available on materials
up to 4mm thick. To penetrate materials beyond this thickness, V-groove root and filler
passes are necessary, which significantly adds to the cost, timeframe and productivity of
the operation.
When performing stainless steel welding, K-TIG also dramatically reduces the costs
of consumables. SAW utilises large volumes of activated flux and filler wire, which creates
high consumables costs for operators. K-TIG requires no flux and typically reduces wire
consumption by at least 95%, or eliminates it entirely.
HOW DID K-TIG PERFORM?
Gustavo Gonzalez had high hopes for the impact of K-TIG. Just four months into
the project, all of Gonzalez’ expectations for delivering this enormous stainless steel
welding project on or ahead of schedule have been realised.
“The fabrication of the pipeline began four months ago. I am pleased to report
that what we had heard about the speed, productivity and quality of K-TIG welding is
true.”
K-TIG delivers very clean and smooth weld seams and perfect roots. There is no
weld preparation needed. It is extremely fast, uses a fraction of the gas normally required
and a tiny fraction of the wire consumables we would have consumed with any other
process. The productivity that it is delivering for this major project is remarkable - it is at
the highest level.”
“The productivity of the K-TIG process is allowing us to fabricate an
average of eight stainless steel tubes per day. Each of these tubes is 12m long, 1.6m
in diameter and 9mm thick. The timeframe in which we had expected to complete the
fabrication of all 1300 12m tubes was 720 days - indeed we are contracted to this timefr
ame . The use of K-TIG has transformed the economics of the project. We will complete
the fabrication in 162 days - an astonishing 550 days ahead of schedule, which is a
fantastic result for us, the Government and the people of San Juan,” said Gonzalez.
K-TIG came about through a desire to create a welding technology that delivered a
process that was simpler, faster, cheaper and capable of completing higher-quality welds
than the welding processes currently available. K-TIG’s ability to completely transform a
project of this magnitude and importance is a testament to the efficacy of its technology.
Adelaide start-up takes FireEye’s Helix to small customers
South Australian managed services start-up OpSys has set up a dedicated security
operations centre in Adelaide after leveraging what it claims is the first local deployment
of the FireEye Helix intelligence security platform.
The dedicated, air-gapped centre will enable future advanced investigations of
threats and complement the existing capabilities of the Helix platform to detect and
respond to threats. It is also in the process of building a dedicated data centre for the
service.
After striking a deal with FireEye, OpSys spotted a need for enterprise grade
security for small to medium businesses, and decided to build a managed service based
on the Helix platform, which offers a combination of advanced threat detection and
response capabilities.
OpSys will offer customers Helix ‘seats’ according to their requirements and
budgets. For example, if a company had 10 employees, they can just purchase the seats
required rather than pay for the full enterprise-grade solution.
It is understood that the new deployment marks the first deployment of FireEye
Helix in this manner in the Australian market.
OpSys founder Matthew Fabri, said the Helix platform offered the most complete
combination of security capabilities.
“Security is everyone’s concern, regardless of how big an organisation is. It stands
to reason that companies of all shapes and sizes have access to the same toolsets to
defend themselves, and now they do,” Fabri said.
OpSys was launched last year and offers virtualisation, mobilisation and managed
services. Since then, the Adelaide company has experienced rapid growth and plans to
take its business nationally.
“We see strong demand from SMBs for this level of service, and it means we’ll
look to expand the service to a national and, eventually, global market,” Fabri said.
The Helix platform is built on FireEye’s intelligence and analytics; network and
endpoint security; incident response and expertise in building security programs. Helix is
the result of a multi-year effort to address a customer’s most difficult security problems.
FireEye A/NZ regional director, Richard Metcalfe, said FireEye Helix was specifically
designed to simplify, integrate, and automate security operations so that organisations
can get the most out of their security infrastructure and manoeuvre from alert to fix in
minutes, not days.
“OpSys is now enabling that level of security and service to businesses of all sizes
in Australia,” Metcalfe said.