HDD long distance record in Scandinavia
Mar 28, 2014
Trenchless installation of pipelines
Top performance at minus 27 degrees Celsius
Last winter, a team of the Swedish tunnelling company BAB Rörtryckning AB was struggling through centimeter-thick ice about 70 kilometers north of Stockholm. The mission was to install two sewage and drinking water pipelines under the Länna Kyrksjö lake. They are being used to supply the nearby community of Norrtälje whose pipeline system is also to be supplied in future with water from Mälaren lake to the west, because the town has grown so fast in recent years. The drilling tool used by BAB Rörtryckning was a Horizontal Directional Drilling Rig (HDD Rig) type HK150C made by Herrenknecht with a pulling force of 150 tonnes.
The first hole for the drinking water pipeline led from the shore to the bottom of the lake. There, the pipeline had to be connected to a conventionally laid pipeline, thus creating a link to the opposite shore. After only 2 days of drilling, the 700 meter long pilot was completed at the bottom of the lake. Then the weather changed dramatically. The temperature fell by more than 25 degrees and the general contractor SVEAB was suddenly faced with a frozen lake with a decimeter thick ice layer. "We fought against the ice for a total of two weeks, 24 hours a day. Day and night up to four boats were working on the lake as ice-breakers" recalls Magnus Tingstrand from BAB Rörtryckning AB. The boats had to break through the ice to be able to lift the pilot head, change it for a reamer and to connect the pipe which also was frozen into the ice. The effort was worth it – the 28-inch pipeline was installed safely in time for Christmas.
After a well-deserved Christmas break, BAB started installing the sewage ducts in January 2013. The plan was to install this in the form of a single "Double Pack" pipeline consisting of two Polyethylene tubes (2x355 mm). This runs parallel to the previously created drinking water pipeline, which in turn, was to be produced in one step from shore to shore deep under the seabed. The weather was constantly icy. "We first had to clear the jobsite of ice and snow, which took us one full day with temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius below zero," said Magnus Tingstrand. Nevertheless, the drill team was able to achieve record-breaking performances with the HDD Rig. The pilot drill of the 1,385 meter long crossing under the lake was mastered with a record of 457 meters per day within an absolutely short period of time. No HDD project with a comparable length had ever been realized successfully before in Scandinavia. The pipeline installation itself took just under 48 hours.
A result which is pretty impressive. The core part of the new supply and disposal lines for the Norrtälje community was completed after only three months. The completion of the entire project is scheduled for 2015.
HDD - Horizontal Directional Drilling
The HDD method (Horizontal Directional Drilling) is a worldwide tried-and-tested technology for the underground installation of pipelines. In a first step, a pilot drill is driven from the launch to the target point. In a second step, the pilot hole is widened in the opposite direction by a so-called reamer. The reaming is often repeated several times depending on diameter and geological ground conditions. In a last step, the pipeline is inserted into the reamed bore hole. HDD rigs from Herrenknecht are used worldwide to install oil and gas pipelines as well as water and wastewater pipelines with diameters of up to around two meters (80 inches) - rapidly, cost-efficiently and causing low impact on the environment.Project data | Machine data | ||
---|---|---|---|
Location | Norrtälje, Sweden | HK150C Crawler Rig | |
Application | Wastewater; drinking water | Pipeline diameter |
Wastewater: 2x 355mm (2x14 inches "Double Pack") Drinking water: 710mm (28 inches) |
Pipeline length |
Wastewater: 1,385m Drinking water: 700m |
Pulling force | 1,500kN, 150t |
Geology | Soft clay | Torque | 70kNm |
Client | SVEAB | Contractor | BAB Rörtryckning AB |
More News and Articles
Apr 19, 2024
News
WATCH: Overnight with SAERTEX-LINER H20 in São Paulo
Available through Pipe Core, high-quality liner SAERTEX-LINER H20 performed under pressure in São Paulo, Brazil.
Apr 17, 2024
News
Immersive media provides wastewater experience in Denmark
An immersive media experience (IMX) may not be what most people want when they think about industrial wastewater, but that is exactly what visitors can expect when they visit a new installation in the city of Kalundborg, Denmark.
Apr 15, 2024
News
Spotlight on gender diversity at Pipe Core
Since founding in 2008, Pipe Core’s team has grown across all areas of the business and is now in a position where there are more females than males across the organisation. Research published in Harvard Business Review found that “countries …
Apr 12, 2024
News
New Wave of Startups Scale Innovation to Solve Global Water Challenges
Innovators from Around the World Join Xylem’s 2024 Accelerator Program to Deploy Breakthrough Innovations for Utilities and Industrial Users of Water
Apr 08, 2024
News
Integrated sustainable electricity and clean drinking water systems
Altitude Water and New Use Energy Solutions have partnered to create integrated, mobile solar-plus-water generation systems that produce sustainable electricity and clean drinking water anytime, anywhere.
Apr 05, 2024
News
How to Evaluate Hydraulic Fracture Risk in HDD Design
The design of horizontal directional drill (HDD) installations often requires an evaluation of the potential for hydraulic fracture of the soil layers through which an HDD passes. Evaluating this risk during the design process is an important planning tool to …
Apr 02, 2024
News
Historic Project Linking Rome and Vatican City Uses Advanced Technology and Local Knowledge to Keep Water Flowing
Relocation of Major Sewer Infrastructure Enables Construction of Pedestrian Link for 35 Million Visitors to the 2025 Jubilee
Mar 27, 2024
News
USU Study Looks at Water Main Break Rates in the U.S. and Canada
Report Highlights Correlation Between Material and Diameter
Mar 26, 2024
News
Update BE-21: New Material in Course and Modules on Trenchless Pipe Installation
Online training on the topic of pipeline installation in civil engineering: Trenchless technology for underground drainage construction can be a resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, time-saving, and cost-effective alternative to open cut methods. The UNITRACC e-learning course "Utility Tunnelling" has been enhanced …
Mar 25, 2024
Article
Bacteria as a new weapon in wastewater treatment
In early November, San Diego based startup Aquacycl officially opened its first European office and test center at the Water Campus in Leeuwarden. The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and the Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands (NOM) …
Mar 22, 2024
News
A superior HDD offering
Building on its relationships with leading horizontal directional drilling companies, TRACTO Australia has delivered three new rigs to operator Superior HDD.
Mar 20, 2024
News
New portable water filtration technology could improve access to clean drinking water worldwide
The University of Texas at Austin has developed an injectable water filtration system with the aim to aid the over two billion people worldwide who are without clean drinking water.
Contact
Herrenknecht AG
Achim Kühn
Schlehenweg 2
77963 Schwanau
Germany
Phone:
+49 (0)7824 302-5400
Fax:
+49 (0)7824 302-4730