A Successful TRENCHLESS ENGINEERING Held in Poland

The 12th International Conference, Exhibition and Technology Shows — TRENCHLESS ENGINEERING 2014 took place June 11-12 in Krakow, Poland, attracting trenchless professionals from all over the world. The location of this year’s’ event was Krakow Bielany – splendidly renovated historical interiors of the water treatment station.

Approximately 300 people connected to the trenchless engineering market participated in the Conference, that was organized by Wydawnictwo Inzynieria sp. z o.o. publishing house. Once again – the biggest event on trenchless technology in Poland was a success.

The conference was supported by a number of sponsors: general sponsor, BLEJKAN sp. z o.o.; panel sponsors, Cetco-Poland, Cetco Sp. z o.o. s.k.a., HABA-BETON Johann Bartlechner sp. z o.o. and JL MASKINER w Polsce sp. z o.o. and supporting sponsors: BEWA sp. z o.o., HEADS sp. z o.o., HOBAS System Polska sp. z o.o., Hufgard Polska Sp. z o.o., MC-Bauchemie sp. z o.o., Biuro Handlowe RUDA Trading International Jacek Ruda, TERLAN sp. z .o.o. and Wavin Metalplast – Buk sp. z o.o. The main partner of the conference was MPWiK S. A. w Krakowie (Municipal Waterworks and Sewer Enterprise in Krakow).

This year’s event, compared to the previous 11 conferences, was held in a modified formula. For the first time, the technical debates took place simultaneously in two conference rooms. Topics of the discussions in one of them concerned only the issues related to innovative construction technologies such as horizontal directional drilling (HDD) or microtunneling.

An integral part of the conference was inside and outside exhibition of the equipment and devices used in trenchless construction, networks rehabilitation and other elements connected with the trenchless industry. The exhibition gave the opportunity not only to see specialized showpieces, but also to get a professional opinion on the practical aspect of the equipment. Direct contact with the producers and suppliers of the equipment, technologies and variety of services in one place was a chance to improve the quality of the business.
Among the exhibits you could find included: microtunneling; jacking; cracking; horizontal directional drilling; drilling equipment, systems for the preparation, conditioning and phase separation in drilling, fluids; pumps; devices for clearing, inspection and locating the networks; renovation systems of networks and wells; pipes; welders; wires; power generator units; compressors; winches; and software.

The opening plenary session considered such topics as: “Selection Criteria for Trenchless Construction Technologies of Underground Pipelines” and “Trenchless Construction of the Connections to Water, Sewage and Gas.”

The important part of this year’s event were five discussion panels. One of them was a part of plenary session – participants debated on trenchless construction of connections.

On the first day, two other discussion panels took place. Organizers invited only the most esteemed specialists to ensure that the discussions were thought-provoking and of high quality.

Next discussion panel was titled “Replacing the Gravity and Pressure Networks” and was held by Andrzej Roszkowski. The topics covered during the discussion were: technical conditions (static or dynamic cracking, pipeline work process, other infrastructure near pipeline, fittings), equipment and devices and material solutions (materials for the pressure and gravity networks, conditions for input of the new wire into the old pipeline). This discussion was met with a great response from the attendees, who spoke and shared their experiences.

The second discussion panel that took place on the first day of the conference, was “HDD in Urban Environment,” held by Jacek Jaworski (HEADS sp. z o.o. [Ltd.]). Topics included: legacy underground infrastructure (an accuracy of the documentation supplied by the designing offices and methods of its verification at different stages of the investment), gravity installation in an urban environment (whether such investments are possible, if so, under what parameters) and management of the drilling fluid – what to do with drilling mud in such projects (whether separation systems are cost-effective; disposal of drilling mud in urban conditions).

The third discussion panel took place during the third day of the conference and discussed the development of drainage systems – the formal and technical conditions. This panel was very interesting for all of the municipal waterworks and sewer enterprises from Poland. It considered trenchless technologies in the construction of drainage systems, elimination of local flooding and problems of the drainage systems renovation.

The last discussion panel was particularly interesting for all those who are curious about large diameter fuel installations. It is worth noting that currently in Poland many such investments in that field is taking place. According to the Polish government’s plan, from 2014 to 2023, 2,000 km of new gas pipes will be built. The previous government’s plan, which will be finalized by the end of 2014, will result in 1,000 km of new gas pipes. The participants of this panel discussed such issues: How to Plan a HDD Project Properly, Do Companies Recognize Construction Risks Correctly, What Is the Major Source of Success: Equipment, Materials, People or Technology and Why Do Complex Projects Must Cost More.

The main component of the conference involved speeches and presentations. It is impossible to enumerate all the presentations but discussion issues included: construction of the sewage and rainwater systems using microtunneling method, drainage of the cities in terms of urban changes, drilling fluids systems development in HDD technology, improvement of the technical condition of the water supply network in Poland, innovative use of the HDD technology, modern methods of laying large diameter pipelines, pipebursting classification, selected mud systems and their use, selection criteria for the network renovation technologies, storage reservoirs in CC-GRP technology and trenchless technology in construction of drainage systems and retention.

All lectures, presentations and panels were interpreted simultaneously in Polish and English, allowing visitors coming outside of Poland to be able to listen to the presentations.
TYTAN Awards

The highlight of the conference program is the Evening Gala and TYTAN Awards. The TYTAN statue was given in six categories. Winners were: Project of the Year – New Installation – PPI CHROBOK S.A. for execution of two parallel drillings (2 x 655 m) in HDD technology under the Oława River along with installation of pipes made of ductile iron DN600 with bell and spigot pipe joints with lock systems within the scope of construction of northern water main (Mokry Dwór – Opatowice) – stage 1 a; Project of the Year – Renovation – Blejkan sp. z o.o., INFRA S.A. for renovation of the sanitary and rain water drain system in Pawłowice. Within the realized investment until 2014 at the housing development in Pawłowice in the scope of sanitary sewage system renovation by means of trenchless method 1,168.23 m of network was performed in total (including: CIPP tube – 960.92 m, cracking – 207.31 m, renovation of 20 pcs. of sanitary sewage system wells), and within the scope of rain water drain system – 2322.27 m of network (including: CIPP tube – 1 842.77 m, cracking – 363.27 m, SPR- PE- 305.23 m, s184 pcs. of rain water drain system wells); European Project in Trenchless Technologies – Nawitel Sp. z o.o. sp.k. for execution within the task titled “Construction of High-Pressure Gas Pipeline DN700 MOP 8.4 MPa relation Rembelszczyzna-Gustorzyn” of more than 16 km of horizontal HDD drills. In total, 39 crossings were performed — 19 by means of steel gas pipeline 711×17.5 mm with a total length of 8,433rm and 20 drillings, parallel to the gas pipeline drillings, for development of the casing pipeline for the optical-fiber cable 160 HDPE with a total length of 7,845 rm. Length of the drills was in the range from 150 rm up to 1,352 rm; Small Trenchless Project (two TYTAN awards In hic category) – Biuro Wdrożeniowo-Projektowe SABEL for execution of six drillings under the Widawa and Odra rivers in Wrocław within the scope of modernization of the railway line E-59 on the section Wrocław – Poznań. Under the Widawa river two drillings were performed with the lengths of 300 and 336 m, and the diameter of the installed pipes amounted to 125 mm. Crossing of the Odra river included four drillings. During the first two drillings – with the lengths of 254 and 312 m – two pipes with the diameter of 160 mm were installed. During the other two – three pipes with the diameter of 160 mm at the length of 165 and 306 m and ZRB Janicki for execution of two parallel crossing over the Świna river in Świnoujście for the requirements of tele-technical network. For that purpose the casing pipe PEHD with a diameter of 200 mm was used at the depth of installation amounting to 32 m in relation to entry point. This is one of the six longest drillings drilled in Poland with the machines in the class below 200 kN; Product of the Year – Normag b.v. and Robert Osikowicz Engineering – representative in Poland for a three-module phase separation system for HDD and microtuneling, constructed on the basis of vibrating sieves NOV equipped with a patented Constant-G Control System.

The last special statue of TYTAN was dedicated to Municipal Waterworks and Sewer Enterprise in Krakow for its contribution to the development of trenchless Technologies in Poland. Special Awards – Tytan Investor’s Laurel were also granted to investors of the winning projects in categories: Project of the Year – new installation, Project of the Year – renovation, European project in trenchless technologies and Small Trenchless Project.

Here you will find full list of all the nominees and winners of TYTAN Awards 2014.

The 2015 TRENCHLESS ENGINEERING Conference will be held June 10-11 in Krakow.