APARELHO PARA FIXACAO DE UM MEMBRO TUBULAR A OUTRO MEMBRO TUBULAR E PROCESSO DE UNIOR UM PRIMEIRO MEMBRO TUBULAR E MEMBRO TUBULAR A SER UNIDO COM UM SEGUNDO MEMBRO TUBULAR

An apparatus for joining two tubular members B and P together at a subsea location wherein one of the tubular members has internal grooves 90, 92, 94 and the second tubular member is sufficiently small to slide into the first tubular member and the first tubular member has an external flange suitable for connection to a flowline, which apparatus includes a tubular mandrel 10 having means for connecting to said first tubular member B, a resilient sleeve 60a surrounding said mandrel and adapted to be positioned within said second tubular member P, volume compensating means 98 positioned within each of said grooves and testing means 70 carried by said mandrel to allow testing of the joint while the mandrel is still in position after forming. A method of joining tubular members at a subsea location including the steps of inserting the second tubular member within the first tubular member after the volume compensators have been inserted in the internal grooves in the first member, exerting fluid pressure on the interior of the second tubular to form the second tubular member against the internal grooves of the first tubular member and testing the formed joint while the mandrel is still in position within said second tubular member.A second form of the invention includes the use of microspheres in an epoxy matrix positioned in internal grooves of the bell which are designed to collapse at pressures above the water pressure at the depth of the installation of the joint and at a pressure below the pressures which develop in trapped sea water in the groove during forming.