The Welding Institute hosted its first Technical Group Meeting online at the end of October this year. The Welding Institute’s Pressure and Process Plant Technical Group hosted a two-part online webinar format event, which hosted speakers from industry leading companies and reached attendees from both the UK and across the globe including the USA, Sweden, Philippines, France, Netherlands and Hong Kong. The Pressure and Process Plant Technical Group is just one of eight Technical Groups run by The Welding Institute in conjunction with TWI Ltd that run technical seminars throughout the year.

The first session of the event took place on the 29 of October with speakers including Pressure and Process Plant Technical Group Chair John Marlow introducing the day, Walter Sperko, President of Sperko Engineering Services delivering a presentation on, ‘Pressure Equipment Standards developed in the USA,’ Stuart Bond, European Area Manager and Technical Advisor at NACE International presenting the talk, ‘ISO15156/MR0175 Issues Related to guidance for Weldments in Sour Service,’ and Welding Institute Fellow and Joining Processes Technical Group Chair, Gene Mathers, delivering the concluding presentation of session one of the two-part event on, ‘Electro-Slag Cladding: A Case Study.’

The second session of the two-day online event continued on the 30 of October with Phil Bygate, consultant at Bygate Manufacturing and Quality Solutions Ltd presenting a talk looking at, ‘Development of Pressure Equipment Welding Standards Over the Last 50 Years – from BS to EN to ISO – Are They Better?’ This was followed by TWI Principal Project Leader Marcello Consonni, who presented the talk, ‘Convergence and Harmonisation (or Lack of Them) in Welding Standards.’ The webinar continued with Kevin Millican, Senior Materials and Corrosion Engineer at Shell UK delivering a presentation on, ‘Understanding EEMUA 235 Guidance On PWHT of Group P1 Steels,’ and the final presenter of the two-day online event, a TWI Ltd Technology Fellow and Welding Institute Fellow, Isabel Hadley, delivered the presentation, ‘Implications of Changes in ASME B31.3 PWHT Practice for the Reliability of Girth Welds in Pressure Piping; An Analysis Based on Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics,’ which concluded the Pressure and Process Plant Technical Group Meeting, 2020.

The new two-day online format of the Technical Group Meeting was described by attendees as informative, with positive comments made on all of the speakers and their insightful and knowledgeable presentations. The Welding Institute would like to thank all those involved in the organisation of the technical group event and all those who attended.