THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE,WATER &WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
CASE STUDIES
PIPELINE INSTALLATION
After further consultationwithMammothMTS to ensure that the correctmolewas selected,Mark Taylor, owner of the contracting company, opted for a newHammerHead 130mmdiametermole for the job. On delivering themole to site theMammoth engineer also undertook full training on the safe operation and capabilities of the molewith theMark Taylor crew. A standard excavatorwas used to establish start and receive pits across the 300mrun of the installationwith themoleworking from one pitwhilst otherswere being excavated. The size of themole ledMark Taylor to look at howsite efficiency could be improved, thereby limiting crewnumbers and time on site. To this endMark designed his own launch cradle for themolewhich enabled the crewto set up and launch themolewithout the need for personnel entry into the start pit, amajor safety aspect of the project forMark, aswell as ensuring good alignment of themole on the desired line and level prior to starting themoling run. The technique used for themoling runs is known as ‘stitching’with each smallmole run feeding into the next ‘start pit’. The launch cradle is then simplymoved fromone pit to the next, themole is resettled on to the cradle aligned, the pipe connected as required and launched. The project took a total of four (4)weeks to complete given the pit excavations and the otherworks necessary to establish the ring main. However, over this time scale themolewas only in operation for a total of 5working days. In practice some 21 pitswere excavated, each spaced about 14mapart. Themolewas then used to install the ringmain pipewhich comprised 90mmdiameter butt- fused PE pipe.
By the time theworkwas completed and the newringmainwas operational the leakage fromthe client’s site had fallen fromthe peak of 18m3 per day to around 0.8m3 per day,measured as a loss of just 8m3 over a ten day period. Commenting on the project Alexander Holt, SalesManager - Trenchless Technology forMammothMTS said: “Thiswas first time Mark had used this technique for such a job as this, but he took to it with great enthusiasmand designed his own launch cradle tomake the sitemore efficient for himand his crew. Itwas great to see such a keenness for the technology.” Mark Taylor further commented:“This techniquewas really useful and both our client and I have beenwell impressed by the speed and accuracy achievable with the moling system. Further to this the cost saving it offeredwas huge compared with other possible trenchless options. It became a no brainer to use the stitching technique for this project with the impact mole.” For the client, the site manager said of theworks:“Mark’s team caused no distribution for the site what so ever andwewere very pleased that he kept the site tidy. No efficiencywas lost throughout the installation of thewater ring main. These pointswere very important to the smooth operation of a national distribution centre business.” On completion of the project,Mark Taylorwas approached by a local farmer to find out what had taken place. He said hewas asking because since theworks has been completed his fields, which lay adjacent to theworks site, had dried up, something which had not happened for some 25 years, thewet soil making his fields unusable at times. The farmerwas very pleased with the outcome and this shows some of the positive impact of theworks for the local community.
The PE pipe being installed for the newsection of the water ringmain.
FOLLOW US
Aligning theHammerHeadmole prior to launch on one of the stitching runs.
August 2020 | drain TRADER 31
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