I have always wondered how man has managed to explore and mine oil from the floor of the sea with the water and all. Doesn’t the water obstruct the whole exercise? And how do they prevent the eater from spoiling the metal? If the gigantic pipes are fixed underwater, how are they wielded together? How are underwater pipelines maintained, or installed in the first place? It turns out that underwater wielding is what brings them all together. These structures are made of heavy pieces of metals that are wielded together underwater, by the process of underwater wielding. Usually they are maintained using the same process of underwater wielding so they do not have to be removed from the water for maintenance to avoid inconvenience and high costs.
Underwater wielding has its classifications that depend on the kind of equipments that are used and the procedure followed during the underwater wielding some of the underwater wielding techniques are cofferdam wielding, whereby the wielder is supported underwater so enable him to wield. There is always the risk of accidents and this kind of structure holds them in position as they do the wielding. Dry underwater wielding is the procedure of underwater wielding that is more or less permanent, with less maintenance needed once done, Although it is hard and costly to perform this kind of underwater wielding. A cheaper type of dry underwater wielding has been developed to take care of the costs. Underwater wielding is fast and saves a lot of money. The opposite of underwater wielding is costly in terms of transit and time used.
MMA or manual metal arc wielding is the most penalty type of underwater wielding and is mostly used because with it you can go to further depths. Actually the main reason it is used is because of this quality. The last of these wielding techniques is the hyperbaric wielding where helium gas is used. The gas is placed in an enclosure, next to the item that is being wielded. It produces a wielding of a higher quality than the other wielding types because of the protection by the helium gas.
The down side to underwater wilding is the obvious risks involved when wielding. The oil rigs and the water pipelines are underneath the water most of them sitting on the ocean bed an exposed to a large amount of pressure from the water. It requires the wielding to be string enough to prevent the damage of the pipeline. The pressure from the water is a health hazard to the wielder. Resurfacing from the water in a rush after the diving is hazardous to the wielder. It can cause decompression sickness to the wielder and may even drown him. Standby emergency services are a must to take car of this risk. The wielding is done by electricity. We all know that electrical power is not exactly best friends with water. There is need to prevent accidents by insulation from electric power. In worst case scenarios; the wielded will be electrocuted inside the water.
Sources
http://www.squidoo.com/underwater-welding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_welding
