DOI: https://doi.org/10.9767/jcerp.20839

Experimental Investigation of Joule-Thomson Cooling Induced by Welded Joint Geometry in Natural Gas Pipelines

Department of Chemical Engineering, Akwa Ibom State University, Uyo, Nigeria

Received: 6 Sep 2026; Revised: 14 Sep 2026; Accepted: 15 Sep 2026; Available online: 19 Sep 2026; Published: 30 Jun 2027.
Editor(s): Istadi Istadi
Open Access Copyright (c) 2027 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Abstract

The Joule–Thomson (JT) effect is well characterized at engineered throttling devices such as valves, regulators, and leak orifices, but its occurrence at internal weld-joint geometry, an unintentional, workmanship-tolerance-scale feature present at every girth weld, has not previously been established experimentally; existing JT-cooling studies assume an intentional, externally specified throttling geometry, while weld-integrity studies address the erosion, corrosion, and stress consequences of internal weld irregularities without examining their thermal effect. This study addresses that gap by providing controlled experimental evidence of weld-induced JT cooling as a distinct micro-throttling mechanism. The objective was to determine whether internal weld-joint geometry (weld reinforcement and hi-lo misalignment) constitutes a measurable, thermodynamically consistent JT throttling mechanism under representative natural gas transmission conditions. A natural gas pipeline test section incorporating a smooth-pipe baseline and four internal weld geometries (low, medium, and high reinforcement, and hi-lo misalignment) was tested at upstream pressures of 40–70 bar and flow velocities of 5–15 m/s, with the measured response validated against Peng-Robinson-based isenthalpic predictions (ΔT = μJTΔPw) and independent CFD simulation. The CFD simulation reproduced the experimental pressure loss to within an average of 3.5%. Weld-induced pressure loss and the corresponding corrected temperature response increased systematically with geometric severity and flow velocity, reaching a maximum additional pressure loss of 0.199 bar and a maximum corrected temperature reduction of 0.0404 K for the hi-lo geometry at 60 bar and 15 m/s; flow velocity accounted for 55.96% of the variance in the response, followed by weld geometry (26.62%) and their interaction (13.84%), and a regression model linking temperature response to weld severity, velocity, and pressure achieved R² = 0.9642. These results confirm that internal weld geometry constitutes a genuine, thermodynamically consistent local JT throttling mechanism, one that is two to three orders of magnitude smaller than the cooling associated with engineered throttling devices and unlikely to present a significant hydrate, embrittlement, or corrosion hazard at an isolated girth weld. Copyright © 2027 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Keywords: Joule–Thomson effect; Girth weld; Natural gas pipeline; Micro throttling; Thermodynamic modelling

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Section: Original Research Articles
Language : EN
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