U.K. Fresh Water Pipe Relining Project Proves to be a Challenge

Sewer lining specialist DALROD Cambridgeshire was recently involved in a technically challenging project to keep water flowing to a major cement works in Essex, United Kingdom.

The site is part of an industrial development in the mined out area of what is still elsewhere a working quarry site. Investigations showed that the pipes that carried away fresh water between to two lakes were in need of rehabilitation. However, because the site was industrialized with other operations, as well as the cement mixing works, meant that operating conditions for any rehabilitation works would be far from easy.



The client expressly demanded that the rehabilitation be completed in a set timeframe with all traffic management being undertaken by the contractor and, most of all, that not only during the rehabilitation works but subsequently there should be no pollution created by the products used to complete the works.

With the cement works and other industrial units to remain operational during the course of the works, traffic was going to be a significant factor in how the work could be completed. Before DALROD was brought to site, a number of other contractors had attempted to survey the pipeline in question but failed due to the level of pipeline deterioration.

One company did, however, complete the survey very successfully but at the time, they were unable to complete the rehabilitation work within the timeframe stipulated due to other commitments. However, not wanting to let the client down and knowing of DALROD’s reputation for this sort of work, the contractor that successfully completed the pipeline survey passed the project details over to DALROD to see if the contractor could offer a solution. Having examined the survey results and discussed options with the client, DALROD was awarded the contract to complete the works.

Difficult Access and Circumstances

The pipeline in need of rehabilitation runs between two freshwater lakes, both of which hold expensive fishery stocks such as carp and other species that had to be protected during the rehabilitation operation. The water supply available from the lakes also provided process water for a nearby cement mixing factory that needed to remain operational through the works.

Initially, it was thought that the pipeline to be repaired was a 300-mm diameter concrete pipe. However, it turned out that the pipeline was a mix of materials both from the original construction and the changing of the pipe material as subsequent repairs were necessary. Furthermore, the survey also revealed that various repair jobs had changed the nominal diameter at several points along the route as non-standard pipe had been used to complete the repairs. So, now the pipeline varied in diameter generally to less than 300 mm in places.

The survey results also showed that the state of the original pipe was worse than originally expected in that there was significant groundwater infiltration due to the very high groundwater experienced in the vicinity of the freshwater lakes. On top of this, several of the pipe joints were also experiencing running sand infiltration from the surrounding soils. This meant that the pipe foundations were in danger of being washed out, potentially leading to the pipe collapsing.

To alleviate this problem before lining works could be undertaken in-full, DALROD completed 10 liner patch installations over the sand infiltration joints to eliminate the sand wash-in.

Once this problem had been solved, it was decided that the full pipe lining works could be completed to the project specification using mainly the standard hot water cured resin impregnated felt liner material supplied by C.J. Kelly Associates in three separate installations of 46, 110 and 125 m in length. In just a few short runs, totaling about 10 m length, DALROD also used the standard Brawoliner product where tight pipeline bends and other challenging circumstances occurred; Brawoliner was the easier liner to install for the best results. The Brawoliner was also supplied by C.J. Kelly Associates.

 



Where the difficulty came with this was that the standard resin used with the felt liner did not fully meet the very stringent non-pollution requirement of the contract. However, C.J. Kelly Associates also represents MC Construction Chemicals in the United Kingdom, which recently developed a new resin type that cures to a blue color. The new resin is highly environmentally-friendly and trials undertaken by DALROD showed that neither during nor post-installation does the new resin produce any form of pollution, nor does any leaching of by-products occur out of liner subsequent to lining completion and cure.

“This was the only product that we could find that offered this non-polluting capability and we understand that this is one of the few projects yet undertaken using the new resin. It proved to be just the right product for these circumstances,” said Mike Pollard of DALROD Cambridgeshire.

The MC Construction Chemical resin used for the majority of the lining work was the Konudur 170 TL-NV product. Designed as a thermo-reactive epoxy resin for CIPP liner systems the product offers:

• Low-viscosity, two-component epoxy resin


• Warm-hardening epoxy resin


• Light-blue pigmentation


• Long application time


• High strength


• Short curing times depending on curing temperature


• Good adhesion on concrete, brick and ceramic


• Can be applied to dry and moist mineral or metallic substrates

The blue pigmented resin enables control of the impregnation process while the liner resin combination is flexible enough to negotiate pipe bends. The thermosetting resin has a high chemical and thermal resistance and is easy to use at a construction site due to variable application and hardening times. There is also no annulus gap between the host pipe and liner, as the installed lining material sits flush to the old pipe wall. More importantly for the project in hand, the resin is certified to be environmentally compatible with groundwater.

During the course of the lining works, it was not only the level of traffic and the need to keep the industrial sites working that caused DALROD’s crew problems. Initially some water was over-pumped from the upper lake to the lower lake in order to maintain the necessary water supplies to the cement mixing factory. However, inclement weather added to problems of over pumping during the course of the works; significant rain fall caused the upper lake to fill to the point of flooding, so increasing the need to monitor the lake level and over pump more to ensure that excessive flooding did occur in the surrounding area.

The lining work was carried out between November and December 2014. Mike Pollard went on to say: “The successful completion of the work now means that the fresh water supply pipeline is now able to operate very effectively with no sand infiltration or potential for adverse effects on the lakes or their highly prized fish populations. All in all despite the challenging circumstances a job well done,” Pollard said.

This article was provided by CJ Kelly Associates, Hemington, Peterborough, United Kingdom, and DALROD (UK) Ltd., Woodston, Peterborough, United Kingdom.