HDD, DIP meet Tennessee project needs.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The viability of installing ductile iron pipe by horizontal directional drilling (HDD) helped place segments of a Ripley, TN, wastewater system through environmentally-sensitive areas where open-cut construction was not allowed.
The $4.9 million Mississippi River Force Main project involved installation of approximately 12.5 miles of 18-inch-diameter ductile iron pipe (DIP) for an effluent wastewater force main and outfall. The system was designed to convey treated wastewater from a new treatment lagoon in Ripley to a discharge point in the Mississippi River.
Project owner was the city of Ripley Gas, Water and Wastewater Department. The general contractor was Garney Construction, with work designed and managed by the Jackson, TN, office of J.R. Wauford & Co. Time was a critical element in the project, and the potential of high river water levels threatened to delay completion past the date for the new line to be in service, said Steve Ford, Garney construction manager.
"We were under a relatively tight time frame," explained Ford, "because the city of Ripley needed to begin pumping treated wastewater discharge through the new force main within a specified time or risk losing a major industry currently located in the city."
About half of this force main is located in the Mississippi River bottoms below flood elevation. The pipe route proceeded up a relatively steep bluff area where Garney used fast-grip gaskets to restrain the DIP, and then to higher ground where the second half of the force main was installed.
"In order to escape the rising river level, proceeding expeditiously with pipe deliveries and installation of the force main in the river bottom, along with construction of the Mississippi River outfall, was of paramount importance." Ford said. "Coordinating closely with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) with respect to traffic control and erosion and sediment control, respectively, were critical elements of the work."
Construction was completed over a six-month period, ahead of schedule and under budget.
"This project involved the installation of 65,800 linear feet of 18-inch ductile iron pipe (DIP). The job was originally designed to be installed predominantly as HDPE," said Ford. "But with questionable availability of HDPE pipe and the volatility of HDPE pipe prices at the time the job was being bid, Garney Construction, in partnership with the American Cast Iron Pipe Company, value engineered the project to provide the engineer and project owner with an all-DIP project at no additional cost."
HDD & DIP
Included in the work was approximately 4,300 linear feet of DIP with inherently impermeable walls which was installed by HDD under environmentally sensitive creeks and drainage ways using Flex-Ring restrained joint DIP. Approximately 480 linear feet of outfall pipeline was installed in the Mississippi River using a Flex-Lok ball-and-socket joint DIP.
Directional drilling segments were subcontracted to Northeast Utility Construction (NUCO), West Monroe, LA. Ford said HDD portions of the project went smoothly due to the thorough planning and close coordination between Kevin Griffin, Garney superintendent, and Harold Traylor of NUCO.
An American Augers drill rig developing 122,500 pounds of pullback and 20,000 foot pounds of torque was used with a Pensor wireline guidance system.
For the first bore, the pilot bore entry and exit points of the pilot bore were at the surface. All subsequent installations were performed with the drill unit and exit points in pits. Joints of Flex-Ring DIP were assembled during pullback.
"The process went so well, pullback was practically continuous," said Ford. "The drill rig never required more than 85,000 pounds of pullback on any of the nine installations.
Ford said nine bores were made to complete the 4,300 feet of trenchless installations. Lengths ranged from 430 to 900 feet.
"Subsurface conditions were alluvial deposits," he said. "Drilling was relatively easy, "but in some places we went a little deeper than originally contemplated to make sure depth was sufficient to avoid frac outs in creek bottoms. Depths varied from 10 to 20 feet under creeks'.
Directional drilling is common in conditions such as these, and HDPE pipe often is the material being installed. Indeed, some in the industry are unaware that lengths of ductile iron pipe can be installed by HDD. Ford said Garney has installed DIP on several projects with one of 960 feet believed to be the longest HDD installation of 36-inch Flex-Ring DIP ever made.
New experience
D.E. Crowell, P.E., vice president of J. R. Wauford & Co., said his company and Ripley are familiar with directional drilling, but the project was the first experience for both with installing ductile iron pipe by that method.
"My experience with HDD," he said, "has been mostly with HDPE pipe in smaller diameters--the 18-inch pipe is larger than what has been used on most of our projects. But ductile iron offers advantages in that size of pipe."
Restrained joints hold ductile iron pipe together during installation. Lengths of pipe can either be assembled before installation or pulled in a joint at a time. Flex-ring pipe is ideally suited for installation by directional drilling because the joint is designed to provide joint deflections, while maintaining full thrust capabilities. When deflection or articulation of the joint occurs, the wedge-shaped flex-ring segments slide up or down, the mating wedge-shaped slope inside the flex-ring bell distributing thrust or pulling force around the bell face.
"The directional drilling portions of the project went very smoothly," concluded Crowell, "We are very pleased with the way Garney handled all aspects of the project."
Ripley has a population of just under 8,000 and is the Lauderdale County seat.
Garney Construction is one of the nation's largest companies specializing in water and wastewater transmission and distribution construction and has the capability of providing all water and wastewater facility needs of municipalities, private developers and industrial users nationwide.
In addition to the Ripley effluent force main project that included the HDD segment, Garney also constructed 11,000-linear feet of 20-inch DIP influent force main from the city's wastewater treatment facility to the new lagoon--the point where the new force main to the river begins.
J.R. Wauford & Co. offices in Nashville, Jackson, and Maryville serves municipalities, utility districts and industry in all facets of water and wastewater engineering, including development of new raw water sources and surface impoundment and groundwater supplies.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Garney Construction, (816) 741-4600, garney.com
American Ductile Iron Pipe, (800) 442-ADIP (2347), acipco.com American Augers (Astec Underground) (800) 527-6020, astecunderground.com
NUCO, (318) 396-2244 J.R. Wauford & Co., (865) 984-9638, jrwauford.com
Jeff Griffin * Senior Editor
The viability of installing ductile iron pipe by horizontal directional drilling (HDD) helped place segments of a Ripley, TN, wastewater system through environmentally-sensitive areas where open-cut construction was not allowed.
The $4.9 million Mississippi River Force Main project involved installation of approximately 12.5 miles of 18-inch-diameter ductile iron pipe (DIP) for an effluent wastewater force main and outfall. The system was designed to convey treated wastewater from a new treatment lagoon in Ripley to a discharge point in the Mississippi River.
Project owner was the city of Ripley Gas, Water and Wastewater Department. The general contractor was Garney Construction, with work designed and managed by the Jackson, TN, office of J.R. Wauford & Co. Time was a critical element in the project, and the potential of high river water levels threatened to delay completion past the date for the new line to be in service, said Steve Ford, Garney construction manager.
"We were under a relatively tight time frame," explained Ford, "because the city of Ripley needed to begin pumping treated wastewater discharge through the new force main within a specified time or risk losing a major industry currently located in the city."
About half of this force main is located in the Mississippi River bottoms below flood elevation. The pipe route proceeded up a relatively steep bluff area where Garney used fast-grip gaskets to restrain the DIP, and then to higher ground where the second half of the force main was installed.
"In order to escape the rising river level, proceeding expeditiously with pipe deliveries and installation of the force main in the river bottom, along with construction of the Mississippi River outfall, was of paramount importance." Ford said. "Coordinating closely with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) with respect to traffic control and erosion and sediment control, respectively, were critical elements of the work."
Construction was completed over a six-month period, ahead of schedule and under budget.
"This project involved the installation of 65,800 linear feet of 18-inch ductile iron pipe (DIP). The job was originally designed to be installed predominantly as HDPE," said Ford. "But with questionable availability of HDPE pipe and the volatility of HDPE pipe prices at the time the job was being bid, Garney Construction, in partnership with the American Cast Iron Pipe Company, value engineered the project to provide the engineer and project owner with an all-DIP project at no additional cost."
HDD & DIP
Included in the work was approximately 4,300 linear feet of DIP with inherently impermeable walls which was installed by HDD under environmentally sensitive creeks and drainage ways using Flex-Ring restrained joint DIP. Approximately 480 linear feet of outfall pipeline was installed in the Mississippi River using a Flex-Lok ball-and-socket joint DIP.
Directional drilling segments were subcontracted to Northeast Utility Construction (NUCO), West Monroe, LA. Ford said HDD portions of the project went smoothly due to the thorough planning and close coordination between Kevin Griffin, Garney superintendent, and Harold Traylor of NUCO.
An American Augers drill rig developing 122,500 pounds of pullback and 20,000 foot pounds of torque was used with a Pensor wireline guidance system.
For the first bore, the pilot bore entry and exit points of the pilot bore were at the surface. All subsequent installations were performed with the drill unit and exit points in pits. Joints of Flex-Ring DIP were assembled during pullback.
"The process went so well, pullback was practically continuous," said Ford. "The drill rig never required more than 85,000 pounds of pullback on any of the nine installations.
Ford said nine bores were made to complete the 4,300 feet of trenchless installations. Lengths ranged from 430 to 900 feet.
"Subsurface conditions were alluvial deposits," he said. "Drilling was relatively easy, "but in some places we went a little deeper than originally contemplated to make sure depth was sufficient to avoid frac outs in creek bottoms. Depths varied from 10 to 20 feet under creeks'.
Directional drilling is common in conditions such as these, and HDPE pipe often is the material being installed. Indeed, some in the industry are unaware that lengths of ductile iron pipe can be installed by HDD. Ford said Garney has installed DIP on several projects with one of 960 feet believed to be the longest HDD installation of 36-inch Flex-Ring DIP ever made.
New experience
D.E. Crowell, P.E., vice president of J. R. Wauford & Co., said his company and Ripley are familiar with directional drilling, but the project was the first experience for both with installing ductile iron pipe by that method.
"My experience with HDD," he said, "has been mostly with HDPE pipe in smaller diameters--the 18-inch pipe is larger than what has been used on most of our projects. But ductile iron offers advantages in that size of pipe."
Restrained joints hold ductile iron pipe together during installation. Lengths of pipe can either be assembled before installation or pulled in a joint at a time. Flex-ring pipe is ideally suited for installation by directional drilling because the joint is designed to provide joint deflections, while maintaining full thrust capabilities. When deflection or articulation of the joint occurs, the wedge-shaped flex-ring segments slide up or down, the mating wedge-shaped slope inside the flex-ring bell distributing thrust or pulling force around the bell face.
"The directional drilling portions of the project went very smoothly," concluded Crowell, "We are very pleased with the way Garney handled all aspects of the project."
Ripley has a population of just under 8,000 and is the Lauderdale County seat.
Garney Construction is one of the nation's largest companies specializing in water and wastewater transmission and distribution construction and has the capability of providing all water and wastewater facility needs of municipalities, private developers and industrial users nationwide.
In addition to the Ripley effluent force main project that included the HDD segment, Garney also constructed 11,000-linear feet of 20-inch DIP influent force main from the city's wastewater treatment facility to the new lagoon--the point where the new force main to the river begins.
J.R. Wauford & Co. offices in Nashville, Jackson, and Maryville serves municipalities, utility districts and industry in all facets of water and wastewater engineering, including development of new raw water sources and surface impoundment and groundwater supplies.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Garney Construction, (816) 741-4600, garney.com
American Ductile Iron Pipe, (800) 442-ADIP (2347), acipco.com American Augers (Astec Underground) (800) 527-6020, astecunderground.com
NUCO, (318) 396-2244 J.R. Wauford & Co., (865) 984-9638, jrwauford.com
Jeff Griffin * Senior Editor
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| Title Annotation: | WaterWorks |
|---|---|
| Author: | Griffin, Jeff |
| Publication: | Underground Construction |
| Date: | Mar 1, 2008 |
| Words: | 1099 |
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