November December PipeLine. h Long-Term Projects

Transcription

1 November December 2012 PipeLine h Long-Term Projects 1 h Pressure Pipes Ensure Filisur Power Plant Operation, CH 3 h Pressure Pipes Built into Tunnel with High Groundwater Level, CZ 4 Texas Has Been Able to Rely on h Pipes for Over 20 Years, US 6 Pipes Put Through their Paces at the h TechCenter 8 Crystal-Clear Water from 20-Year h Pipeline Only Best Quality for Our Clients h Pressure Pipes Ensure Filisur Power Plant Operation for Almost 50 years, CH The first GRP pipes by the dye works Basler Stückfärberei AG, from which the company HOBAS evolved, were produced in Basel, Switzerland, in the 1950s. The founding fathers already suspected that their product was something very special. Rightly so, HOBAS can today look back on more than half a century of successful company history. One of the first clients that utilized HOBAS Pipes as penstock for a hydropower plant was the Swiss power company Albula Landwasser Kraftwerke AG. The corporation was founded in 1961 and today runs hydropower plants in numerous valleys in the canton Grisons, in the east of the country. One of these is the power plant Filisur where, in 1965, 480 meters GRP pressure pipes 1250 mm in diameter were installed as penstock. Making use of the natural incline, water from Tuor creek 1423 m above sea level is first conveyed through a sand trap and then transported through a GRP pipe to the hydropower gallery Bergün/Filisur. Turbines subsequently transform the generated water power into electric energy. The first 245-meter-long section of the pipeline was installed in open trench along a road with 2.4 meters cover. On the second section of 235 meters the pipes were encased with 20 cm of reinforced concrete and installed beneath the road. Basler Stückfärberei conducted all assembly works themselves. A challenge in this project was the difficult accessibility of the terrain. Bends were utilized to optimally adapt the pipeline route to the terrain. Thanks to the comparatively light weight of GRP, the pipes could be transported with ordinary cross-country vehicles and without special equipment. Construction works progressed quickly and were finalized within the months May to July despite strongly varying temperatures between 5 and 30 C. E Engineering GmbH Pischeldorfer Str Klagenfurt Austria T F info@hobas.com

2 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 02 Today, almost half a century later, the hydropower plant Filisur is still in operation. Together with the plant Tiefencastel it produces around 381 million kwh which approximates 5 % of the annually produced electricity in Grisons. Over the years, the GRP pipes have been regularly inspected and have been reliably doing their job ever since the plant s startup. The company HOBAS evolved from the Basel dye works and developed into the worldwide leading supplier of GRP pipe systems for applications such as potable water supply, sewage discharge, drainage, irrigation, hydropower pipelines and pipe systems for industrial plants. HOBAS Pipes have been successfully installed in more than 50 countries around the world aligned they would span the world several times. Fmd: hobas.switzerland@hobas.com Year of construction 1965 Construction time 3 months Total length of pipe 480 m Pipe specifications D e 1250, pressure pipe Application Hydro power pipeline Installation method Open cut Contractor Albula-Landwasser Kraftwerke AG Advantages Light weight, fast installation, long service life Convince yourself of the quality of HOBAS Pipes and find out about the secret of their longevity by clicking on the video above.

3 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 03 h Quality for Challenging Projects h Pressure Pipes Built into Tunnel with High Groundwater Level, CZ When it comes to installing sewers, Prague s partly hilly topography poses a challenge to building contractors. Such was the case with collector P in 1998: Due to the expansion of the district Reporyje, the consequent extension of the city s subway system and necessary renovation works, this backbone of the sewer system in Prague also had to be extended. The client opted for HOBAS Pipes a good choice, as tests conducted almost ten years later proved. The main obstacle for the extension of collector P was a hill with highly varied geology between the construction site and the connection point to the existing sewer. There were three possibilities: O Bypass the hill with a small decline of the pipeline; O surmount it with a pressure sewer and a pumping station; O or build a tunnel in which to install the pipeline. The planners eventually opted for tunneling since it proved the technically most convenient solution, would not cause any pumping costs and had already been implemented in similar sewer structures in Prague. This solution implied, however, that the project team not only had to find a reliably leak-proof pipe but also had to deal with a high groundwater level. The technicians of the building contractor Vodní stavby Prag and the designers of Metroprojekt a.s. Prague turned to HOBAS requesting pipes that would withstand the challenging external water pressure of 4.5 bar. The experts at HOBAS Czech Republic studied the installation requirements and consulted experienced colleagues from other HOBAS Organizations for the pipe design. The structural analysis of an external Austrian specialist and calculations of the necessary long-term properties of pipes and pipe joints under the given circumstances led to the following offer: HOBAS Pipes DN 2000, PN 7, SN were considered the technically best solution. The pipes and couplings were tested in Switzerland and Austria for leak-tightness under high external pressure, adequate stiffness class and ring deflection with results that left the client with no further doubt. Installation works started in HOBAS supplied the pipes and adequately prepared three points on the 1.7 km long route where shafts for possible maintenance works needed to be tightly connected with the pipeline. In order to keep the access shaft as narrow as possible, the 6-m-long HOBAS Pipes DN 2000 were lifted into vertical position, then carefully lowered through the shaft and, in a wider section shortly before reaching the tunnel, rotated into horizontal position. A simple trolley was used to transport them to the point of installation where they were joined to the already installed pipes by hand. In a final step, the annular space between the borehole and the HOBAS Pipes was grouted. In 2009, HOBAS Czech Republic inspected the installed pipe section of collector P in the tunnel together with the operator PVK Veolia. Pipes and pipe joints were examined very carefully. The result: After almost ten years under the given tough conditions, the pipeline still worked flawlessly and the client was convinced to have taken the right decision. Fmd: hobas.czech@hobas.com Year of construction Total length of pipe 1.7 km (DN 2000) km (DN ) Diameter DN 500, 1000, 2000 Pressure class PN 1 and 7 Stiffness class SN and Installation method Relining, open cut Application Sewer Line Client ZAVOS s.r.o. Praha Operator PKVT (now PVK Veolia) Prague Contractor Vodní stavby a.s. Advantages Long service life, leak-tightness, tests and technical support, custom-made solution

4 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 04 Thorough Testing Since 1987 Texas Has Been Able to Rely on h Pipes for over 20 Years, US When our quality management teams get to test pipes that have been in service for several decades, their eyes light up. And they have every right to be proud that the test results are always much better than predicted or required by the applicable standards. HOBAS has had a plant in the United States since One of the first projects was a pipeline near Odessa in western Texas. It required DN 450, PN 10, SN 5000 HOBAS GRP Pipes to take brackish water to the nearby oil fields for use in processing. The six-meter-long pipes totaled 44 km in length and were joined with HOBAS FWC Couplings. After installation, the pipeline was successfully tested at 12 bar and went into operation in It then remained in place with the pressure maintained at 5 to 7 bar. Years and years went by uneventfully until the pipeline owner contacted the HOBAS Experts in June The operating company Centurion Pipeline L.P., a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, approached HOBAS, as an adjacent third-party pipeline had burst, damaging parts of the HOBAS Pipeline, and they urgently needed replacement pipes. Responding quickly, the HOBAS Plant supplied 24 meters of DN 450 HOBAS Pipes, which were installed within a short space of time. The pipes damaged by the burst adjacent pipeline were taken to the HOBAS Laboratory where they underwent close scrutiny. We took a look at the records we keep for all products we make and found that the pipes used were among the first to be centrifugally cast in the United States in November 1987, explains Pepe Rodriguez, quality control supervisor at HOBAS Pipe USA. Being able to test pipe segments after use is a very rare Year of construction 1987 Total length of pipe 44 km Diameter DN 450 Pressure class PN Stiffness class SN 5000 Installation method Open cut Application Brackish water supply Client West Texas Water Supply System Contractor Key Enterprises Advantages Quick installation, long service life, corrosion resistance

5 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 05 occurrence because they usually remain in service over their entire useful lives. After 21-and-a-half years, the pipes used for the brine pipeline were tested to check their mechanical properties. A range of procedures to ASTM standards revealed that the products performed better in all tests than the original project specifications had required. When they were planning the pipeline, they selected HOBAS Products made of glassfiberreinforced plastic because they are extremely corrosion resistant, says Rick Turkopp of HOBAS Pipe USA looking back. The brackish water is normally at a temperature of 32 to 35 degrees Celsius and contains hydrogen sulfide. This corrosive mixture limits the service life of other materials to a maximum of 15 years. The tests on the HOBAS Pipeline however confirmed that the products designed for 50 years and more actually last that long. It therefore comes as no surprise that the pipeline operators are exceedingly pleased with the HOBAS Products. In use since installation, there have never been any problems. Since 1987, HOBAS Pipes have been ensuring that the brackish water is reliably conveyed and will continue to do so for many years to come. Top: Pepe Rodriguez with the old and new HOBAS Pipes Below: The old pipes undergo strict testing and deliver impressive results Fmd: info@hobaspipe.com

6 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 06 Pipes Put Through their Paces at the h TechCenter Highest Standards for Your Satisfaction It counts among the world s most modern centers for research and development of GRP pipe systems: The HOBAS TechCenter in Wietersdorf (Austria). Here, our experts continuously monitor the long-time performance of various HOBAS Products, work on new product lines and improve existing ones. Our main concern is to ensure highest possible customer benefit. Since the production of the first HOBAS Pipes at the end of the 1950s, HOBAS Experts have been constantly furthering the technological development of products, raw materials and production facilities. With the opening of the HOBAS TechCenter in April 2010, these efforts were literally set on a new and solid foundation. On approximately 1400 m² and by means of more than 30 different testing methods we make sure to offer our clients only the best, thoroughly tested solutions. The HOBAS TechCenter is certified to ISO 9001 and and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for testing even very large components of up to 4 m in diameter. Internal pressure, ring stiffness, tensile strength, corrosion resistance under strain and stress, abrasion resistance, analysis of raw materials, regression and process analysis the tests conducted are as impressive as is the longevity of HOBAS Products: depending on the application, independent certification institutes confirm a service life of more than 50 years. Our Customers Get nothing but The Best Interview with Thomas Simoner, Head of Quality Management, Raw Material & Product Development, HOBAS Group At the HOBAS TechCenter GRP pipe material is put through its paces a worthwhile venture? Thomas Simoner (TSI): Absolutely. The different types of long-term tests the pipe material is subjected to assure trouble-free performance for an operational service life of more than 50 years. We are proud to offer this certainty to our customers and to be able to hand over our products with a clear conscience after all we know their quality and performance in the minutest detail. Precisely which types of tests are we talking about? TSI: We subject the pipe material to a variety of stress factors: Strain and pressure from the in- and the outside, water, acid and gravel, various temperatures. To determine the long-term

7 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 07 properties of the pipe a statistically significant number of test samples is prepared and loaded sufficiently to obtain a series of ultimate values over a predefined time span. The results are evaluated by means of a log load versus log time regression line of best fit which is projected to obtain the 50 year value. Still, how can HOBAS Customers be sure the product they purchase will really live up to these tests and calculations? TSI: Firstly, it s a law of polymer physics that whatever happens under high stress in a short period of time, happens under low stress in a long period. Secondly, at HOBAS we do not conduct pipe tests arbitrarily but to a variety of international standards. Best proof, however, is that the quality of HOBAS GRP Pipes which have been excavated after several years in operation exceeds predicted values from laboratory tests. What is to come next how is HOBAS going to make things happen in future? TSI: We will continue our efforts in order to improve our current areas of expertise and adapt to new challenges of the market. At our TechCenter we are able to produce sample pipes of various designs and thereby create a basis for implementing our customers demands for applications of almost any kind. Our team is currently also working on an official accreditation of the test laboratory with all its short-term and long-term product tests to ISO/IEC for the highest competence and independency in assessing of our products. We strive for more because our clients deserve nothing but the best. If you have any further questions regarding the HOBAS TechCenter please contact thomas.simoner@hobas.com. You would like to look behind the scenes of the HOBAS TechCenter? Click on the left-hand video and get an impression of the testing procedures.

8 h PipeLine November/December 2012 Page 08 Crystal-Clear Water from 20-Year Old h Pipeline Water Main for Wrocław Housing Estate Stands Test of Time, PL Year of construction 1991/1992 Construction time ~ 5 months Total length of pipe 2 km Pressure class PN 16 Diameter DN 300 Stiffness class SN Application Potable water Installation method Open cut Client MPWiK Wrocław Contractor Hydrobudowa Wrocław Insbud Wrocław Advantages Long service life, optimal hydraulic properties, mechanical resistance In 1991 a water main was constructed in Wrocław utilizing HOBAS WaterLine DN 300 pipes with PN 16 pressure rating, SN The 1540-m-long pipeline including fittings such as bends, T-pieces and flange connectors was installed in open trench by the contractors Hydrobudowa Wrocław and Insbud Wrocław to supply Świniary housing estate with potable water. Long service life, optimal hydraulic properties and mechanical resistance were the main criteria that let the client, MPWiK (Municipal Water and Sewage Company Wrocław), opt for HOBAS Products. 18 years later, the test of time as well as two laboratories provided proof that MPWiK had made the right choice. In October 2009, after 20 years of trouble free operation, MPWiK had to alter a part of the route due to the construction of a central bypass road in Wrocław. For HOBAS, this presented a perfect opportunity to inspect and test the almost twodecade-old water main. Tests on a DN 300 sample provided by the Wrocław water main operator were carried out by the accredited Institute for Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dies (IMPiB) and the TechCenter of HOBAS Engineering in Austria. They included visual inspection, determination of wall structure and comparison of the results to DIN and PN-EN 1796 as well as determination of the internal pressure resistance (failure pressure) specified in EN As the product standards had changed since the year of manufacture, the tests were based on both DIN and PN-EN 1796, which was introduced in Not only do the 18-year-old pipes today still easily meet the requirements of DIN and PN-EN 1796 standards; the test results proved even better than that. Particularly positive were the results of the test measuring internal pressure resistance: The achieved value of failure pressure of 48.9 bar exceeded the required and calculated long-term pressure value of 30.4 considerably. On the basis of the tests carried out at the independent laboratory of IMPiB the Chairman of the Technical Committee for Plastic Pipes, Fittings and Valves, Dr Krzysztof Bortel, confirmed that the 20-year-old HOBAS GRP Water Main, today as before fulfills all requirements to European standards. Due to their experience, Wrocław Municipal Water and Sewage Company have often pointed to advantages provided by HOBAS Pipes for water supply as well as sewage discharge. These praised qualities have been confirmed here by both reliable long-term operation and independent tests on the revisited pipe. Most importantly, however, residents of Wrocław can keep enjoying crystal-clear potable water in their households for several decades to come. Fmd: hobas.poland@hobas.com