PRESSURE PIPE | MATERIALS
Taking the strain: recent advances in pressure pipe
Plastic pipe is commonly used to supply utility services such as water and gas – so must be able to comfortably withstand the pressures at which they are piped to people’s homes
Much of the infrastructure system – to deliver services such as gas and drinking water to home – is pressurised, meaning that the pipes used must withstand moderate to high pressure. Plastic pipe from Agru has helped to connect the supply systems of two neighbouring munici- palities in Austria. After digging a micro-tunnel under the River
Danube, the pipe was installed to deliver drinking water, natural heat, internet, electricity and gas. Energy company EVN invested around €10 million in 460m tunnel – which has a cross-section of 2m. The tunnel, built by pipe jacking, contains the
Korneuburg-Klosterneuburg high-pressure natural gas branch line (made of steel) and two Agruline drinking water pipes of PE 100-RC with an outside diameter of 560mm and 16 bar operating pressure. Agru supplied more than 1,000m of pipe, includ- ing fittings. As a precaution, two district heating pipes and a reserve high-pressure gas pipe made of steel – as well as 16 cable protection pipes made of plastic, for electricity and optical fibres – were installed. Overall, Agru supplied a total of 2,880m of PE 100-RC pipes and fittings in OD 160mm SDR 21 for the cable protection pipes. The pipes for drinking water, natural heat and internet were welded, brought into position on a carriage construction and pulled into the tunnel tube via a rail system. Agru supplied 18m extra-long PE 100-RC pipe rods in OD 560 mm, which reduced the welding effort. Mechanically manufactured heating coil sleeves were used in the connection areas. The tunnel was then sealed at both ends, filled with water and the pipes examined for possible defects. “After a positive conclusion of the examination, the tunnel was filled with a concrete suspension and sealed permanently and maintenance-free,” said Stefan Zach of EVN.
Water works In similar fashion – to secure water supplies for its
www.pipeandprofile.com
local population – the Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesische Wasserverband (OOWV) in Germany is building a new drinking water transportation pipeline. Some segments are installed beneath several
roads and waterbodies via trenchless installation using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and Egeplast SLM 3.0 protective-layer pipe. The pipeline is more than 120,000 ft long and will cost around €60 million. The supplementary transporta- tion pipeline is to safeguard the public water supply of the regional population and to improve the distribution of water quantities in the existing supply network. “The region is becoming more and more thirsty,” said Sven Ambrosy, district administrator of the Friesland district and head of the OOWV association. The pipeline will connect a waterworks to a pumped storage power plant. Construction was
Main image: A tunnel below the Danube gave access to Agru pipelines for water, heat, internet,
electricity and gas
May/June 2023 | PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION 29
IMAGE: EVN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46
