Pipelines 2017: Planning and Design

The City of Enid (City) is located in Northwest Oklahoma and services a population of over 50,000 residents. The City of Enid water supply infrastructure relies completely on an existing groundwater supply. Like many municipalities, aging public works infrastructure and increasing customer demands require continuous infrastructure maintenance, improvement, and expansion. The City of Enid proactively initiated a surface water supply program to supplement the existing ground water supply in order to meet increasing demands and diversity its water portfolio. In 2015, the City of Enid authorized Garver, LLC and Freese and Nichols, Inc. to perform a raw water transmission study and hydraulic analysis to deliver raw water from Kaw Lake to Enid’s proposed water treatment plant, approximately sixty-eight (68) miles away. This paper will focus on the major analysis methods and lessons learned during the corridor study of the raw water transmission pipeline. The study includes data gathering from several public and private agencies. Preliminary corridor alternatives were produced on the basis of minimizing known potential environmental and archeological impacts, potential impact to landowners, constructability concerns, topographic characteristics that negatively impact hydraulic profile, and maximizing permanent easement access. The preliminary corridors were broken up by length into geographical classifications that represent specific construction challenges. A corridor evaluation matrix was developed utilizing geographical, environmental, maintenance, and installation characteristics to classify sections of the corridor as a means of comparing the alternatives. Hydraulic models of the recommended corridor were developed based on Kaw Lake water level data, contour data obtained, and previously developed flow requirements. These models were used to determine pumping alternatives, and potential pipeline sizing. A pipeline optimization analysis was performed to compare the capital cost of various pipeline sizes to the annual pumping (power) costs over a twenty-five (25) year span. Cost estimating was included in the study based on corridor characteristics linked with data obtained on recent market trends.

Self-cleansing is a design criterion that satisfies a condition to keep a channel bottom clean from sediment deposits. Deposition of sediment significantly affects on the hydraulic capacity of the channel, and therefore additional costs arise for cleaning the channel. Self-cleansing models in literature are mostly developed for circular channels, which make the limited applicability of existing models. In this study, using experimental data of different cross-section channels, a self-cleansing model is suggested for computation of non-deposition particle Froude number. Considering open channel flow resistance, and using simple channel geometry parameters, a channel cross-section shape factor is incorporated into the model to make it applicable for any arbitrary channel cross-section shape. The robustness of the model is evaluated on different cross-section experimental data to show the applicability of the model on a variety of channel cross-section.

Dry weather conditions over much of the western U.S. has been a significant challenge for the agricultural industry for a number of years that has led to significant innovative ways to more efficiently utilize the natural water resources that are available. The general drought conditions have caused reduced crop yields in much of the West and Midwest section of the country and emphasis on needing to solve them became urgent and launched a chain of events among several stake holders to implement a large irrigation project involving several local interests, state and national fund resources to provide a dependable source of surface water to augment an existing system of interlinked ground water sources that had been able to keep up with the need a resulting in crop yield reduction and losses in the recent multiple year drought cycle. The project described herein is a joint effort of A & B Irrigation, the irrigation system operator, the NRCS Office of the State of Idaho and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, who has federal responsibility for irrigation district water projects. The purpose of the project was to 1) provide supplemental irrigation water from the surface water source available from the Snake River in order to 2) reduce demand on deep well water sources that had been inadequate through several continuous drought years depleting the ability of the wells to provide adequate water supply. The project described here 3) adds a significant new surface water source directly from the Snake River, 4) incorporates over 93,000 feet of pipe to distribute water to additional acres of land, 5) replaces miles of canals and reduces demand on the underground aquifer. During the first season of operation the new improvements resulted in higher crop yields, more acres under cultivation, significant increase in groundwater levels, a savings of 2.3 million KW of electricity compared to the previous 9 year average. Over 2.0 million acre feet of water was saved over the irrigation season due to enclosing canals and transporting water in pipelines and eliminating water loss to evaporation and seepage into the ground from the canal system that was replaced.

The Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) is an industry/university/government research center at Louisiana Tech University. For 27 years, TTC has served as a global leader for the development of technologies influencing almost every aspect of trenchless construction methods. TTC conducted the Auger Boring School and the Utility Investigation School in 2015 and 2016 respectively. This paper will describe what TTC is doing to develop industry professional development courses and university level courses. It will describe the TTC Auger Boring School (ABS), the Utility Investigation School (UIS), the Certificate of Training in Asset Management (CTAM), TTC Mini-Seminar Program, and Underground Infrastructure Training and Competence Centre (UNITRACC) as well.

A series of lateral loading experiments were conducted for a model pipe buried in saturated sand to obtain the relationships between the lateral resistive force and lateral displacement of the pipe. The model pipe was pulled laterally by an actuator after the effective stress of the soil bed was controlled by the upward seepage induced by a hydraulic gradient. The experimental results showed that the lateral resistive force increased non-linearly with the lateral displacement of the pipe. The relationship between the ultimate resistive force and the hydraulic gradient was linear. The force–displacement relationships were well approximated by hyperbolic curves under each hydraulic gradient. The relationships between the coefficients of the hyperbolic curve and hydraulic gradient were also approximated nonlinearly as hyperbolic curves.

Emergency response and contingency planning documents are becoming a recognized part of well-run utilities, especially for water and wastewater buried and aging infrastructure. Though well-intentioned, many of these plans lack unified standards, an understanding of their usefulness and integration with other plans, or are not capable of fulfilling their intent during execution. Several documented guidance strategies exist within the water/wastewater industry and from incident response agencies, such as FEMA. This paper overviews the following: criteria for identifying infrastructure in need of a plan; recommended planning strategies; gap analysis metrics to identify common short-comings of existing emergency plans; and a strawman outline of a plan that satisfies emergency planning goals that can be further tested.

The City of Pleasanton began construction of Phase 1A of their recycled water distribution system in 2015 to provide a critical water source in an area of persistent drought. Given a firm mandate from the City Council, the City of Pleasanton and RMC Water and Environment had a four-month window to design the project consisting of two supply turnouts and over 50,000 linear feet of 20-inch to 6-inch recycled water line to be installed by open cut methods within the vital Hacienda Business Park with restraint requirements and curved alignments. The project also included a 1,500-foot directionally drilled 16-inch pipeline crossing of Arroyo Mocho Creek. The design team implemented a unique utilities investigation approach to save time and used different pipe materials to accommodate varied levels of soil corrosivity, geotechnical conditions, and installation methods. The innovative approaches to design, bid, and construction, which resulted in reducing the duration for the project, completed in July 2016, will be discussed in this paper.

Documentation and digital data management is one of the most archaic and outdated elements of business today. To date, the only component that has excelled is technology, and it has advanced without proper guidance. If documentation and digital data is to move into the 21st century and progress after that, the fundamental thinking behind the concept must change on a global scale.

Biofilm growth in the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) pipelines increases their operational costs and affects the life of their pipes. TRWD has been treating the raw water by adding monochloramine for the biofilm control, but it has difficulties in maintaining the residual monochloramine over the full lengths of the pipelines. In this study, experiments were conducted in the UTA Environmental Engineering Laboratory in the presence and absence of biofilm to simulate the initial monochloramine demand and decay rates in the Cedar Creek (CC) and Richland Chambers (RC) pipeline systems. Biofilms were grown and harvested from pilot plants at the CC and RC pump stations and added to the reactors as TSS. From this study, it is found that the presence of biofilm increased the initial demand and decay over 48 h of total chlorine and monochloramine. Also, demand over 48 h for total chlorine and monochloramine increased significantly with temperature. For the better biofilm control, a year-round application of chloramine at a dosage of 5 mg/L formed above pH 8.0 is recommended.

Pipeline susceptibility to ground deformation resulting from natural hazards, such as earthquake-induced surface rupture, lateral spreading and landslides, as well as construction related movements is well-documented. The present need to replace and retrofit existing infrastructure in high risk areas is being addressed through the introduction of a variety of hazard-resilient pipeline systems. This paper reports on a large-scale testing program to characterize the performance of a novel hazard-resilient pipeline structure under large deformation. The experiments were performed at Cornell University’s Geotechnical Lifelines Large-Scale Testing Facility and include tests to characterize the axial capacity of a geometric inclusion (or wave feature) for use in continuously welded steel transmission pipelines crossing fault zones. Results from the testing program show that the wave feature can accommodate significant levels of deformation without pipeline rupture or leakage while limiting loss of cross-sectional area and flow capacity.

An optimization model for pump operation based upon minimizing operation and maintenance costs of pumps for a specified demand (load) curve is presented. The purpose of this model is to determine pump operation to meet the known consumer demands as well as to satisfy the pressure requirements in the water distribution system. In addition, constraints on the number of pump (‘on-off’) switches are included as a surrogate to minimizing the maintenance costs. This model is a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem to consider the uncertainty in demand using a chance constraint formulation of the demand constraint. The optimization model was solved using the LocalSolver option in A Mathematical Programming Language (AMPL). The model was first applied to the operation of the example pumping system for an urban water distribution system (WDS) illustrating a reduction in operation costs using the optimization model. The optimization model with the chance-constraint on meeting demand was applied for a range of demand satisfaction uncertainties. A decrease in the operation costs was observed with an increased uncertainty in demand satisfaction, which shows that the model further optimizes the operations considering the relaxed constraints. Model application could be extended to operations of pumping systems during emergencies and contingencies such as droughts, component failures, etc.

Welded steel wye branches are a key component of most water projects where flows must be divided. They are also a specialty item that requires many engineering considerations. Historically, the design of wye branches has been studied by many agencies over the years and design guidance can be obtained from several sources.

Life cycle cost analysis is a critical step in feasibility study of infrastructure systems. Life cycle cost analysis of innovative infrastructure systems, such as underground freight transportation (UFT) systems is often challenging since there is not much historical cost information about these systems. Underground freight transportation (UFT) is a class of automated transportation systems in which vehicles carry freight through tunnels or pipelines between intermodal terminals. The objective of this paper is to estimate the capital and annual costs of a UFT system in Texas, designed to transport shipping containers from port of Houston to Dallas via a 25-ft diameter tunnel. The UFT system has major capital cost components including tunnel construction cost, linear induction motor cost, and vehicle cost. The annual cost components of the UFT system are maintenance cost, energy consumption cost, and administration cost. Historical tunneling costs were used to create a regression model to estimate costs of tunnels with various sizes. Quotes from the industry and RSMeans cost data were used to estimate costs of vehicles, propulsion system, UFT maintenance, energy consumption, and administration. The preliminary capital cost estimate for the UFT system is approximately $53 million per mile and the preliminary annual cost is approximately $150 million per year. These results inform transportation planners about estimated construction, maintenance, and operation costs of the UFT system. They also show how life cycle cost of an underground transportation system can be estimated using limited historical cost information.

Initially in 2004, the City of Garland, Texas, approached Freese and Nichols, Inc. (FNI), about decommissioning a small lift station that was becoming a maintenance problem for the City staff. The City did not want to expend effort or funds into rehabilitating or replacing the lift station; it has preferred to eliminate lift stations, if possible, throughout the City. FNI conducted a study of the lift station service area, the gravity collection system in proximity of the lift station, and the topography of the immediate area surrounding the lift station site. The results of the study determined that it would require trench cuts in excess of 50-ft to install a gravity line by open-cut methods to the downstream system, and at the time the trenchless technology was not advanced enough to install a gravity wastewater line at grade for the lengths required for connecting to the existing collection system. FNI recommended to rehabilitate or replace the lift station due to the excessive expense and risk involved in attempting to run a new gravity line to eliminate the lift station. The City opted to wait, and attempted to maintain the existing lift station. Fast forward to 2014. The City of Garland contacted FNI to reinvestigate the same lift station and collection system. After 10 more years of use and maintenance, the lift station was even more of a problem for the City maintenance staff. FNI reviewed the 2004 study and determined that improvements in trenchless technology capabilities made it feasible to install a new gravity line at grade. The new line would enable the City to eliminate the lift station and connect the existing collection system to the service area of the existing lift station. This project would require over 3,500 ft of pipe to be installed by trenchless methods on a grade of approximately 0.01 ft/ft grade. The project was successfully installed and was put in service in the Spring of 2016 as designed. Now that trenchless technologies are making it more feasible to eliminate lift stations, this paper will give utility owners a greater understanding of what trenchless installation entails and what to consider when making that decision. The paper will show the audience how the City of Garland team researched, designed and constructed the project. It will describe the installation options that the project team explored, the precautions they took during design, and the measures they implemented to minimize risks. The paper will also discuss construction issues and challenges that trenchless projects may encounter, as well as lessons learned and other guidance for utility owners.

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a form of trenchless technology intended to minimize surface damage, restoration requirements, and disruption of vehicular or maritime traffic with little or no interruption of other existing lines or services. Most common pipe materials used in the North American market for HDD construction of water pipelines include steel, polyethylene (PE) materials medium-density polyethylene (MDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), fusible poly vinyl chloride (FPVC), ductile iron (DI), and fiberglass. Design and installation guidelines are published for different types of installation equipment (e.g., mini-, midi-, and maxi) dependent on the drilling length, pipe size and pipe materials. For example, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) publish design and installation guidelines for use of maxi- and mini-HDD for placement of polyethylene pipelines, F1962 standard guide and TR-46 guidelines, respectively. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) publishes a manual of practice (MOP) No. 108, documenting general design and installation practices intended to cover most horizontal directional drilling installations, but primarily cover steel, polyethylene and ductile iron materials. North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT) publishes HDD Good Practices Guidelines, but refers to the PPI and ASCE for pipe stress analysis guidance. As observed, these guidelines do not completely cover the design and stress analyses of HDD pipelines for all possible pipe materials used in the current HDD construction practice. This paper presents a summary of design practices used for different pipe materials, presents a stress analysis and design framework applicable for fiberglass pipes installed using HDD, and briefly explores the possibility of a unified framework applicable for most pipe materials used in current HDD installation practice for water/wastewater industries.

Nipomo Community Services District is located on the central coast of California. The District‘s Santa Maria River Crossing of the Supplemental Water Project Bid Package #1 includes installation of over 2,000 feet of 30-inch diameter waterline installed by a multiple pass directionally controlled drilling operation known as horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The work was completed as designed using a mid-path intercept installation for the pilot bore. Located in and across the Santa Maria River, the Project was conducted amid sensitive habitats. The preliminary engineering for the Supplemental Water Project recommended construction of a 30-inch OD HDPE pipeline crossing the Santa Maria River via HDD in order to reduce disturbance of environmentally sensitive areas, avoid construction on the bluff, and streamline permitting for the project. The HDD River Crossing alignment begins within the riverbed at the HDD Entry Point located approximately 880-feet northwest of where the pipeline passes under the levee adjacent to the river. From this point, the alignment extends northward towards the south facing bluff of the Nipomo Mesa, traversing approximately 2,100 feet of riverbed and gaining approximately 110 feet in elevation as it rises to the top of the bluff. At the top of the bluff, the alignment extends an additional 500 feet northward towards the HDD Exit Point near the reservoir and pump station site. The carrier pipe vertical alignment (profile) includes an inverted arc with a radius of 5,000-feet. The soils encountered generally consist of alluvium derived from the Paso Robles Formation and dune sand. The groundwater levels vary significantly seasonally, and thus the HDD construction was specified to take place during periods of low flow because the HDD entry point is within the flood plain. A surface casing was required to stabilize the soils at the entry and exit points during drilling. The significant surface elevation difference between the entry and exit pits presented a unique challenge to the designers of the Project. This paper addresses the design considerations that led to a successful mid-path intercept HDD installation, and the construction challenges that were overcome.

This paper presents environmental impacts of pipeline construction for underground freight transportation (UFT). The UFT system uses automated technology to carry individual freight vehicles through pipelines under available right-of-way (ROW) of highways. Underground freight transportation (UFT) is considered to increase freight transportation capacity in Texas in next 25 years. UFT uses close-fitting vehicles carrying freight through underground pipelines between terminals. This paper is part of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) analyses for feasibility study of UFT from Port of Houston to Dallas. This 250-mile project, if built, will be one of the longest pipeline projects in the world. The EIS describes and summarizes the environmental and social impacts of pipeline construction. Pipeline designers, engineers, and decision makers can use methodology provided in this study to choose the best method of construction with less unfavorable environmental impacts between trenchless technology and cut-and-cover methods.

Construction of new intermodal transportation systems, such as underground freight transportation (UFT) systems by using underground pipelines or tunnels for moving goods can mitigate highway congestion and also add capacity to the existing freight movement network. Planning for implementation of such large and innovative infrastructure projects, requires a rigorous investment valuation to explicitly show the advantages of the project for the public and private parties. The objective of this research is to assess investment opportunities of a container-size UFT system to transport freights for a proposed route (the Port of Houston to the City of Dallas). The cash inflows and outflows of the UFT system are developed for a 100-year life cycle of the system. The initial costs, such as cost of tunneling, cost of terminal land and development, and cost of the linear induction motors (LIM) are considered as one-time costs. Other costs and benefits are assumed as recurring annual costs in the life cycle of the UFT system. The present values of the benefits and costs of the UFT are calculated. The net present value (NPV) and benefit-cost (B/C) ratio of the UFT system are obtained based on the present values of benefits and costs. The system internal rate of return is presented and compared to the market interest rate. The NPV, B/C ratio, and IRR of the UFT system are $60 billion, 3.8, and 12.4%, respectively. The values of NPV and B/C ratio of the system along with the comparison of the system internal rate of return with the market discount rate clearly show the economic viability of the UFT system.

The City of Fresno was facing a dire water supply future before maneuvering the political climate to pass a necessary water rate increase that allowed the City to move forward with the design and construction of a new 80 mgd Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility (SESWTF). The water rate increase, and the capital budgets assumed that raw water to the plant would be delivered the way it has traditionally, through existing irrigation canals. However, the existing irrigation canal identified to convey water to the site was historically a riparian corridor where the furthest reaches upstream and downstream were channelized by the Fresno Irrigation District. The thickly vegetated, winding riparian corridor, created concerns with water quality permitting agencies, and the extensive amount of tree removal required to provide access roads for water quality monitoring created a situation where it was increasingly apparent that the irrigation canal was going to create significant cost, environmental, and permitting constraints. The design team needed to develop a pipeline alternative quickly to keep the treatment plant project on schedule. Carollo conducted an alternatives evaluation to determine the cost comparison for pipeline alternatives relative to the costs of the required improvements for environmental mitigation, quality control improvements, and the unknown of permitting.

This paper serves as a practical guide on widely used methods and considerations to either accommodate or resist differential movement in buried pipeline systems. Differential movement is a classical problem that is frequently encountered when designing pipeline systems. Many of the options discussed will apply to both differential vertical settlement and to differential soil movement in the horizontal direction. Products discussed include flexible push-on joints, flexible restrained joints, ball joints, expansion joints, flexible couplings, and flexible pipe. Several pipe materials are compared including reinforced concrete, ductile iron, fiberglass, concrete cylinder, HDPE, welded steel, and PVC. Considerations discussed include spacing and location of flexible joints, determining allowable deflection, the use of software programs to predict the location and extent of differential settlement, ground improvement in areas subject to settlement, and appropriate backfill materials in areas where differential settlement is expected. The information presented should be of interest to pipeline designers, specification authors, operating personnel, and maintenance personnel.

Sizing of air release valves is not difficult, yet many pipelines are installed with significantly larger valves than necessary. This is not surprising, because the air valve manufacturer’s information related to choosing a valve is deliberately oriented toward the engineer choosing a large valve. Understanding the functions of the valves will go a long way toward improving economy in valve selection. (That is in terms of both reducing design time and reducing the construction cost).

Direct Pipe (DP) is a recently developed trenchless technique used for steel pipeline installations. DP combines the benefit of a continuous pipe fabrication and stringing area (similar to the horizontal directional drilling [HDD] method) with the continuously supported and earth pressure balancing capabilities of a curved microtunnel. Additionally, as opposed to traditional microtunneling, launch and retrieval shafts can often be of minimal depth or even at the ground surface. Since the first DP installation in Germany in 2007, the method has gained relatively rapid acceptance among engineers and owners. As of this writing, there have been 67 DPs successfully completed worldwide, of which 25 were completed in North America. Good documentation and timely analysis are critical to the successful and safe completion of DP crossings. In particular, during construction the alignment and profile of the microtunnel boring machine (MTBM) should be closely monitored along with the thrust forces required to complete the drive. If annular pressure is a design parameter (as with a levee crossing), it should be closely monitored and recorded to confirm the annular pressures related to the minimum factor of safety against soil hydraulic fracture are not exceeded. Engineers with a comprehensive understanding of axial, bending, hoop, and combined stresses; buckling; and hydraulic fracture risk should review the construction data and provide timely input into the construction process to reduce the likelihood of steel pipe yielding issues, hydraulic fracture of soil, or other undesirable outcomes.

Recent water utility surveys have confirmed that PVC pipe has become a popular, well-established product for water distribution and transmission mains. The American Water Works Association (AWWA) recently updated its Standard for Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Pressure Pipe and Fabricated Fittings, designation ANSI/AWWA C900. This standard was the first plastic pipe standard developed through the AWWA consensus standards development process. The latest revisions to AWWA C900 include several major improvements, the most significant being the consolidation of AWWA C905 into AWWA C900. This paper reviews AWWA’s fifty-year involvement in writing standards for plastic pipe. The evolution of technical advancements leading up to the sixth edition of AWWA C900 is discussed. Most importantly, the six most significant changes that have been made to the sixth edition of AWWA C900 are highlighted to help users and their engineers properly incorporate them into their specification updates. How these improvements will enhance the sustainable use of PVC pressure pipe is included.

Delhi, the capital city of India, has undertaken remarkable initiatives to restructure and develop Delhi’s sewerage infrastructure. Sewerage services have been under a severe strain due to explosive and unplanned population growth. Initiatives for sewerage infrastructure development have been undertaken including a sewerage master plan (SMP) for design year 2031. This paper presents a case study for a sub-zone of one of the twelve (12) sewerage zones–the Yamuna Vihar sub-zone–the most congested area of Delhi. The area is partially sewered, the present sewers are inefficient, and the existing sewage treatment plant is under-utilized due to non-connectivity of the sewerage system. The result is overflow of untreated sewage to natural water bodies ultimately polluting River Yamuna. The SMP pipelines scheme integrates existing and planned sewers/pumping stations/sewage treatment plants based on the optimum techno-economical solution. Various construction methodologies were considered for laying sewers due to high congestion and restricted right of ways. Part of the scheme has been successfully implemented, reducing the pollution load to River Yamuna.

As water supply demands continue to increase, many agencies have an increased demand for larger pipelines to carry water over longer distances. As the diameter of these pipelines increase, the deflection behavior of the pipeline, valves, and fittings becomes an increasingly important consideration. In the case of butterfly valves, potential deflections can lead to seal and operational issues. Traditional reinforced concrete encasements are commonly used to control these deflections, but they can be costly and may lead to stress concentrations at the encasement edges for certain soil types. For this study, alternative encasements of a 96-in. diameter butterfly valve are considered for fat clay foundation soils of various stiffness. A numerical analysis is conducted using finite-difference modeling with FLAC (Version 7.0) to study the soil-structure interaction. The results are correlated with a concurrent analysis in STAAD (Version 8i) to verify and calibrate the results. The analysis considers the sensitivity of the results to a variety of geotechnical and structural variables, including various cemented backfill materials, foundation material types, and the length of the encasement. The paper presents the results of the analysis, a summary of the findings, and recommendations for consideration when using alternative encasements for large diameter pipelines. Supporting figures demonstrating the model response and sensitivity for geometry and encasement-type variables.

This paper presents the methodology and results of a systematic study on how the surge analysis results are affected by different levels of model detailing. By doing this, the basis for a guideline and a strategy for surge analysis requirements, at different phases of a sustainable design, can be developed in the future. A complicated pipeline network with multiple pumps distributing cooling water to multiple sub-units was analyzed. Process design was based on steady state hydraulics in which the sub-units were simplified as “points”. This simplification method does not alter the steady state hydraulics of the main pipeline network loop. However, the detailed piping connections inside the sub-units have an influence in the pressure wave propagation going in and out of the units. Different internal piping configuration details of the sub-units are considered to collect quantitative understanding on the effects they have on the surge. The levels of maximum surge pressures influenced by the pipe length, details in branches, and pipe elevations inside the sub-units are evaluated. Power failure and emergency scenarios were considered to collect data on the sensitivity model details have on location, timing, magnitude of surge pressure, and the occurrence of column separation and collapse during surge events. Special attention was given to the conditions at which the transient operations inside the sub-units create surge outside the unit, and to conditions in which outside transient operations develop un-desirable surge inside the sub-units. The results show the importance of integrating transient hydraulics analysis at an early stage. It is necessary to think about operations in design. The magnitude and sensitivity level of surge influence by various types of model details are summarized. A guideline for surge analysis strategy, considering appropriate levels of model details in an economical way, can be elaborated based on the results of this study.

Assessment and management of seismic risk of lifeline infrastructure has been receiving increased attention in recent years. Estimation of the seismic risk is imperative to minimize damage, service interruptions and loss of lives in the event of a seismic event and to plan for emergency recovery. Seismic risk is typically expressed in the form of seismic fragility curves to quantify seismic damage estimates as a function of a select seismicity parameter representing the level of seismic intensity. For pipelines, these fragility curves would depend on the joint types and characteristics, especially the axial, translational, and rotational flexibility. Considering the types of joints, pipelines could be classified into two major groups: segmented (flexible joints); and continuous (rigid joints). Segmented pipelines would include bell and spigot, flanged and coupled joints. Continuous pipelines typically have welded or fused joints. The most commonly available fragility formulations for pipelines are based on damage and repair data collected after past earthquakes on segmented pipelines, and are primarily empirical. Since continuous pipelines typically perform better in a seismic event, direct damage data available from past earthquakes on continuous pipelines is limited. Therefore, fragility formulations for continuous pipelines are typically developed using damage data collected on segmented pipelines and modified to reflect the seismic performance of continuous pipelines in practice. This provides a reasonable approach to estimate seismic risk and has been proposed by the American Lifeline Alliance (ALA) in 2001 for water pipelines. A disadvantage of this approach is that it fails to provide a mechanism to account for variability in design codes, regulations, requirements, construction and design practices, construction quality control, and variability in material types and joints. Analytical, numerical and expert elicitation approaches are available in literature and are implemented in the 2011 risk assessment guidelines for dams and in the 1983 Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines for nuclear facilities. A companion paper containing brief literature review of the available approaches to develop seismic fragility formulations for water pipelines was presented in the Pipelines 2012 conference. This paper presents a simple, yet flexible, framework for seismic fragility evaluation of water pipelines applicable for both segmented and continuous pipelines.

Zinc metallizing with a high purity zinc wire with topcoat has been utilized in Europe for external corrosion control of iron pipe for over 60 years. In the United States, polyethylene encasement has been the primary asset preservation method utilized for gray and ductile iron pipe since 1958. In that 60 year time period hundreds of millions of feet of iron pipe have been installed worldwide and successfully protected with each of these methods. Like any corrosion protection system, these methods have limitations. International studies over the last 47 years have verified that the limitations of both methods when utilized independently can be solved by combining them together as a system. More recent studies in a severely corrosive Florida Everglades environment have shown that the synergy of the two combined systems can be further improved by utilizing a polyethylene encasement enhanced with an anti-microbial and a corrosion inhibitor. This paper summarizes the results to date of 15 years of testing the following methodologies with and without intentional damage to the encasement film: standard polyethylene encasement (with and without galvanic cathodic protection), polyethylene encasement enhanced with an anti-microbial and a corrosion inhibitor, and both types of polyethylene encasements applied to arc spray metallic zinc coated ductile iron pipe.

The Illinois Tollway will complete roadway rebuilding and widening of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) by the end of 2016, building a 21st century, state-of-the-art corridor linking Rockford, IL, to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The tollway was originally constructed in the late 1950s as a four-lane divided highway. Since then, residential and commercial growth have strained parts of I-90 beyond its capacity. I-90 has been repeatedly resurfaced and repaired and the pavement was at the end of its useful life. A full reconstruction and widening was proposed. In 1984, the Illinois Tollway signed an intergovernmental agreement with the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency (NSMJAWA) to permit the installation of the pipeline on the Tollway’s right-of-way (ROW). The line consists of prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) in diameters ranging from 24 in. (600 mm) to 90 in. (2290 mm). The NSMJAWA line was in conflict with the widening plans. The Tollway ROW abuts fully-developed properties that would not allow for the relocation of the pipeline out of the Tollway ROW. This presentation will discuss the detailed investigations and coordination that occurred among the engineers, the pipe manufacturer and the owners to achieve the goals of an expedited relocation and minimal interruptions to service.

The Los Carneros Water District (LCWD) serves a large agricultural area comprised mostly of vineyards in Napa County, CA. For both potable and irrigation uses, the area relies on ground water, a source with fluctuating reliability and quality, especially given recent drought conditions. To make more groundwater available for potable use and provide a more consistent water supply to expand the area’s crop base, LCWD worked with the Napa Sanitation District to complete the design of an 8.6-mi. recycled water distribution system in December 2014. Construction was completed in March 2016. The new pipeline consists of 6- to 20-in. recycled water lines serving 107 connections (~4,300 acres of irrigable land) with 1,300 acre-feet of recycled water per year. An earthquake in August 2014 added a new challenge to the design as a previously inactive fault line caused surface rupture intercepting the pipe alignment in three locations. A system of bell-and-spigot and restrained joint piping was installed to meet design challenges associated with corrosive soils, fault zones, curved alignments, and restraint requirements.

East Bay Municipal Utility District (District) is constructing a multiphase high-density polyethylene (HDPE) water main replacement project in a fire-seismic geohazard zone known as the Panoramic Hill, located in the Cities of Berkeley and Oakland, California. The pipeline replacements are part of a $12M water system improvement project for Panoramic Hill, which is a historic residential neighborhood with narrow, winding roads and only one entrance where traffic is limited to one direction at a time. Given its proximity to open vegetated space and challenging access for fire departments, the neighborhood has an extreme high fire risk. Additionally, the Hayward Fault Zone traverses the lower portion of the neighborhood. To improve the reliability of the area’s domestic and emergency water service, the District will replace approximately 7,800 ft of primarily 4-in. unlined cast iron water mains with 2- to 12-in. HDPE pipelines. This paper will discuss the project’s planning and design phases, including the District’s full-scale HDPE testing to verify the minimum bend radius for installation of electrofusion service saddles. This paper will also provide insight on multi-city coordination and lessons learned through the permitting process, detail some preliminary construction challenges and how they were addressed, and outline next steps for the project and for the District.

This paper focuses on the on the design-build (DB) delivery of off-site water and wastewater conveyance facilities at the Marine Corps Base, Camp (MCB) Pendleton, in Oceanside, CA. Those improvements consisted of nearly 90,000 linear feet of HDPE raw water, treated water, brine disposal and sewer force main pipelines to support a new advanced water treatment plant (AWTF) for the Northern Water System at the MCB. This project was delivered by a design build alternative project delivery led and built by Orion Construction Corporation teamed with GHD Inc. as the design professional. These comprehensive improvements included the addition of emergency by-pass connections, transmission mains, the redesign of over eight wells in two separate wellfields, crossings under significant creeks, and significant environmental coordination, including working within habitat which harbors critically endangered species. Specific construction methods included horizontal direction drilling (HDD) and open trench. The results of this project highlight the value of a DB delivery team to overcome technical and regulatory challenges, while meeting aggressive delivery schedules. The paper will discuss some of the unique elements of the engineering and construction including unique challenges, methods and value of the DB project delivery method.

A common and practical rule of thumb for trench widths when installing steel pipe is to keep the trench as narrow as possible and still allow for the needed compaction equipment to consolidate the embedment around the pipe, particularly in the haunch area. Pipe deflection is caused by the soil and live loads above the pipe and it is resisted by the support of the side fill soil next to the pipe. In poor native soil conditions there is sometimes a concern about enough soil support in the trench wall to prevent over-deflection of the pipe. Some design engineers in these cases have looked for guidance on how to properly analyze the pipe soil interaction and develop a procedure that keeps the pipe within the recommended deflection limits. Methods sometimes used include making the trench substantially wider, developing a ratio of the apparent side fill stiffness to the apparent embedment soil stiffness or even encasing the pipe. This paper will review poor trench wall conditions and provide a practical, analytical method for analyzing these conditions based on soil mechanics and the pipe soil interaction. Prevention of over-deflection of the steel pipe and other adverse conditions that poor trench wall soils can create will be discussed and evaluated. This paper will offer the design engineer tools to develop adequate trench widths in poor soils.

The Bay Aqueduct, a 144-inch diameter, 3600 ft. long reinforced concrete cylinder pipe (RCCP) subaqueous pipeline installed in 2000 under Lake Mead’s Boulder Harbor near Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the largest subaqueous pressure pipelines in the world. The Bay Aqueduct was designed for a nominal flow of 600 MGD with a peak flow of 800 MGD, an internal pressure of 160 psi under working conditions, a maximum pressure of 300 psi, 80 ft. of external water head, and up to 20 feet of soil cover at the banks. The 144-inch diameter RCCP was designed in conformance with the AWWA C300 standard and the AWWA M9 manual with modifications to meet project requirements; the reinforcement of the 12 inch thick concrete pipe wall consisted of a 5/8-inch thick steel cylinder and three reinforcing cages: an inner circular, an intermediate circular, and an outer circular cage. The design procedure and special design features of the pipe and its joints, including the specially designed corrugated grout bands, will be discussed and presented. Since the Bay Aqueduct is one of the most critical elements of the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Lake Mead Intake No. 2 Project, qualification testing was required before full-scale pipe production began. The qualification tests, which will be briefly summarized and discussed, included hydrostatic joint testing and structural testing of the pipe to verify the flexural, radial tension, and diagonal tension and shear performance of the pipe, and to compare the observed performance with predictive analytical models. The project also required placing precast concrete saddles over the pipe to counteract buoyancy since the subaqueous pipeline was dewatered after installation to grout the external joint spaces with cement mortar from inside through small grouting nozzles for corrosion protection and also to install an internal welded steel butt-strap across the joints. This paper will also discuss the installation procedure in 90 ft. deep water. This procedure consists of joining three 144-inch diameter RCCP pipe sections on shore to form a 50 ft long assembly weighing 180 tons which was floated and transported to the installation site tugged to a laying barge.

Between 1870s and 1920s, major trunk sewers in Washington, D.C., were built with cobble stones, red brick, or concrete masonry. These systems convey a large flow along existing open channels. Man fill was brought to create land above for development. This has been the pillar of the urbanization in D.C. More than a century later, these trunk sewers carry even more flow than before. The forthcoming $3.5 billion CSO tunnel system in D.C. will supplement the trunk sewer system to relieve local flooding, reduce overflow thus improve water quality. The century old trunk sewers present a daunting task for DC Water to optimize its resources to manage the linear asset, a significant part of the goals in the Blue Horizon 2020 Strategic Plan. DC Water engineers synergize our engineering efforts to assess, improve, and protect our mission critical infrastructure. This presentation showcases our engineer’s holistic effort, from tooling mindset, sharpening skillsets, to managing our collection system in Washington, D.C. Updating DC Water infrastructure design guidelines to summarize tried and true lessons learned from the past decades, promoting the best proactive practices in design, and impact assessments to improve risk management. Categorize recent sewer failures in Washington, D.C., to define the outside factors and inside factors, identify common cause(s): thinking outside the tunnel so as to gauge the sensitivity and vulnerability of the system and thus identify a threshold for open-cut and trenchless methodologies. Besides CCTV inspection, deploying sophisticated entry inspections in mission critical sewer tunnels, with non-destructive scanning and testing tools to perform at-contact inspections from inside the pipe, and to calibrate scanning and testing from outside the pipe as needed. Implementing in-house finite element model analysis of common sizes and shapes of sewer tunnels to reveal the loading conditions and in-situ capabilities so as to gauge the general as-is condition. Strategizing rehabilitation technologies to balance the effectiveness, longevity and cost: promoting a sensible discretionary composite rehabilitation design instead of a new pipe-in-pipe. Such composites appear more sustainable hydraulically and financially. Taking technical stewardship in managing spincast rehabilitation technology when lacking a consistent indirect engineering criteria among vendors, i.e., DC Water engineers do more to establish consistent design approach so that the public work contract can be assessed on equal ground.

The City of Flagstaff began a process in 2008 to develop a pipeline route from a new water source (Red Gap Ranch) to its city limits. The route is approximately 40 miles in length with 2000 feet of elevation gain. This paper explains the alignment issues considered, including environmental factors, property owners, capital cost drivers, and public input. The analysis model includes weighting and sliding scales for each factor considered. After unexpected property issues occurred with newly designated Native American Tribal lands, 20 miles of the alignment necessitated utilization of the I-40 highway right of way, requiring extensive coordination with Arizona DOT officials. Technical issues include pipeline rupture risks, potential impacts to highway facilities, and mitigations; legal issues include historical public right of way and use of the property. The paper concludes with the recommendation of a final alignment for technical evaluation and cost estimation, providing a basis for project funding. The project proved that solutions are possible, although significant technical and legal issues needed to be resolved, which required several years to accomplish and involved an intergovernmental agreement between city and state.

The proposed case study is a part of a state highway capital improvement project. In order to meet future growth, large diameter water mains were proposed to cross a proposed depressed freeway prior to freeway construction. The original design proposed a conventional casing method using welded steel casing utilizing a straight vertical profile. Considering all existing topographical features and design elevations for the roadway, the original design proposal was expected to require a significant amount of earthwork, deep connection to future water mains, and deep trenching adjacent to state lands that were not to be disturbed. Design alternatives were evaluated and proposed to reduce construction project costs, optimize project schedule, and avoid the need to extend construction limits onto state lands. Two alternatives were proposed to install the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) casing (1) with the straight profile under 40 ft from the existing ground and (2) with rolling curve profile under 10 to 20 ft from the existing ground. Design Alternative 2 was selected and saved approximately $4 million as compared to the original design in addition eliminating the need to work in state lands and facilitating operations and future connections. This paper describes technical challenges of the original design, reviews design alternatives, and evaluate value engineering implementations, which included cost, schedule, risk, and benefit analyses. This case study also summarizes lessons learned from the new design and construction practice to overcome the challenges.

The City of Rosenberg, Texas, and the Brazosport Water Authority (BWA) came together to define a $52 million contracting and capital cost sharing scenario to design and construct a 40-mi large diameter water transmission pipeline and pump station facility to transmit potable surface water to the City of Rosenberg. The cost sharing scenario creates a win/win situation for member BWA cities as they will realize stabilization in their water rates with the City of Rosenberg becoming a contracting partner. The pipeline also accommodates other potential future growth in the region. Subsequent to construction, the City of Rosenberg will be in compliance with subsidence mandates through 2025 and have a sustainable and economical alternative water source that provides them with a unique economic development advantage relative to water rates of surrounding communities. The water transmission line is in the preliminary engineering and design phase, and is anticipated to begin the bid phase early in 2017. This presentation will discuss the challenges faced when designing a regional pipeline within a rural setting spanning multiple cities and counties. In order to begin field work, and even though Texas is a right-to-survey state, BWA made the decision to be a good neighbor and obtain Right of Entry to the private properties in which the potential easement(s) exist. In order to do this, GIS software utilized the Brazoria and Ft. Bend County appraisal districts’ data to obtain property ownership information. Land agents had to coordinate right of entry with over 60 private land owners for access to complete easement survey, environmental survey (including wetland delineation and Phase 1 ESA), and geotechnical field work. The 60+ landowners have over 100 tracts of land, which does not include road crossings or public rights-of-way. Additionally, in order to finalize survey data and develop easement documents for initial offer letters, title agents had to obtain title commitments in rural areas that have not had land transfers in over 100+ years. This proved to be a challenge, especially when determining ownership along a previously abandoned railroad corridor that spans approximately 10 mi of the pipeline alignment. Additionally, in order to finalize the easement location, multiple meetings and an extensive coordination effort was necessary to appease various stakeholders. Multiple drainage districts, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, TxDOT, large land owners and numerous oil and gas companies had to be consulted to discuss and approve the exact location of the easement and pipeline within the easement. Much of the coordination effort led to slight route adjustments, which led to additional field work and coordination efforts along the 40-mi stretch. Once all the coordination meetings were held, survey data was complete, and both historical and environmental impact studies were finalized, CDM Smith will finally be able to begin the design phase of the regional pipeline project. Parallel to design right-of-way agents will be negotiating easement terms with land owners. By December 2016 the various packages are anticipated to be under TCEQ review and ready for advertisement for bidding. This presentation will discuss the challenges faced between developing a plan to implement a regional pipeline system and turning that plan in to a final design reality for the BWA.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District (District) is a major metropolitan water district located near San Francisco, California. The District recently completed the design and construction for the Camanche Water Transmission Pipeline Project (Project), which is an element of the Camanche South Shore Water Treatment Plant (WTP) Replacement Project. It allows the Camanche South Shore WTP to supply water to the Camanche North Shore Recreation Area and to provide raw water from the Mokelumne Aqueducts to the new WTP. With the limited precipitation in 2014 and several years of drought in prior years, Camanche Reservoir was at its lowest water level in over 30 years, which shortened the length of the submerged pipeline from 4,700 feet to 1,200 feet. This condition allowed the majority of the cross-lake pipeline to be constructed in the lakebed with direct burial construction versus construction over water (submerged). The low water conditions allowed for a better pipeline construction at a significant cost savings for the District. This paper focuses on the float-and-sink pipeline design and construction.

Resiliency of critical lifeline infrastructure has emerged as an important concern after recent disasters crippled the U.S. infrastructure and stranded many without basic utility services. System resiliency is often defined as the ability of the system to return to its original level of service in a short period of time. This paper will explore the six major dimensions of addressing infrastructure resiliency and will illustrate how these six dimensions can be utilized to develop a streamlined process of achieving infrastructure resiliency.

The project involves the replacement of two separate sections of the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) existing 72-in. Cedar Creek (CC) and 90-in. Richland Chambers (RC) raw water pipelines. The CC and RC pipelines are existing parallel PCCP pipelines installed within a 130-foot easement. The pipelines convey water from Cedar Creek Lake and Richland-Chambers Reservoir. The CC and RC pipelines were installed in 1971 and 1984, respectively, and supply raw water to the city of Fort Worth, Arlington, and various other customer cities. The replacement sections are bare steel pipe encased in concrete backfill. The steel pipe and concrete encasement is dielectrically similar to PCCP. Since the exterior coating is essentially the same as the existing pipeline, the replacement section does not require the use of isolation joints to dis-bond the new pipe from the existing pipe. The new pipe is protected by the existing cathodic protection (CP) system. The CC and RC pipelines are being replaced as part of a highway expansion project where State Highway (SH) 360 is being improved to include additional main lanes and frontage lanes that cross over TRWD’s existing pipeline corridor. The width of the highway right-of-way (ROW) is approximately 500 ft at the location where the existing pipelines cross. The replacement pipeline sections through this area were constructed in a phased approach during two separate annual shutdowns. Pipe material was pre-purchased to expedite the replacement of both pipeline sections so that the pipe was manufactured and delivered in time for the allocated shutdown periods.

With rapid expansion of urban population, selection of a specific pipe material based on performance prediction for water applications is an important issue. This paper presents finite element modeling (FEM) of a new PVC pipe using ABAQUS software based on bedding test in native soils conducted at the Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education (CUIRE) at the University of Texas at Arlington. To evaluate deflection of this pipe under dead and live loads, three dimensional FEM analyses were carried out on different backfill depths, pipe diameters and pipe thicknesses and results of vertical deformations are presented in this paper. The parametric study indicates that for cases studied, vertical deflection of new PVC pipe is less than 1% of pipe’s diameter, which is an indication of capability of this new PVC pipe to be installed in native in-situ soils with minimum compaction efforts, thereby reducing installation and environmental costs.

Pipelines undergo differential settlement when traversing hard to soft foundations at pumping station/pipeline interfaces, for example. Settlements occur as a result of varying soil conditions that may not be obvious without a soils investigation and expert geotechnical knowledge. Compaction of soils can reduce the amount of settlement, however compaction around structures, where pipelines are entering/exiting, is often difficult for contractors to achieve. In an earthquake, some soils may liquefy, causing local loss of soil strength, resulting in settlements. Proper attention to potential settlement and design is necessary to make pipelines function reliably as a safe, integral part of a conveyance system, as intended by the designer. It is common to have a pipeline enter/exit an underground structure; however, the pipeline may settle more than the structure and pipeline joint flexibility is needed. Flexibility is increasingly important with design of large diameter pipelines because they are much stiffer and less tolerant to movements than smaller diameter pipelines. Flexibility can be achieved with the use of couplings. However, pairs of couplings are needed to provide rotational movements and a single coupling does little to accommodate differential settlements, a typical structural design consideration at pumping stations or valve vaults where the piping must transition between relatively hard building foundations and soft trench foundations adjacent to the buildings. Also, since couplings do not normally provide restraint from thrust due to internal pressure forces, external harnesses are often needed. AWWA Manual M11 suggests usage of the familiar bolted sleeve-type couplings (BSTCs) per AWWA C219 and guidance for the design of harnessed joints where the focus is to determine the proportions of tie rods and harness assembly necessary to resist internal pressure forces.

This paper summarizes the design phase geotechnical evaluations performed to develop the bidding and construction requirements pertaining to microtunneling and deep shafts for a recently completed harbor entrance channel pipeline crossing in Honolulu. The dual 7,500 linear feet (LF) 63-inch I.D. sewer force mains were installed inside 81-inch diameter jacked steel casings by microtunneling method. To cross under the only entrance to Honolulu Harbor, 1,580 LF of the sewer and jacked steel casing was installed at -85 feet below mean sea level (msl) through very soft to very loose sediments and coralline formations, and the microtunneling machine egressed and ingressed through 90-foot deep jacking and receiving shafts sunk through very loose soils to very hard basalt using the vertical shaft sinking method. From the deep shafts the pipeline profiles required microtunneling to be performed on slopes of 4.28% (1,450 LF) and 11.86% (590 LF) to shallower, approximately 25 feet deep shafts. This paper summarized the geotechnical evaluations performed to guide the harbor crossing pipelines design, bidding and construction.

Geotechnical and geological risk have the potential to significantly impact the cost and schedule performance of most construction projects. This is especially the case for the design and construction of pipeline systems due to the reliance of these structures on subsurface conditions, typically over long distances. Pipeline projects are often executed using the traditional design-bid-build (DBB) method, but alternative project delivery methods (APDM), such as design-build (DB) and construction manager at risk (CMAR), are becoming increasingly more common. APDM can cause uncertainty regarding the allocation of geotechnical risk on pipeline projects. This uncertainty, coupled with the disparity between traditional and alternative delivery methods, highlights the need for further research into mitigating geotechnical risks on pipeline projects. This paper presents and discusses results from a pilot questionnaire administered to two public water and wastewater pipeline owners to provide an overview of potential geotechnical considerations, risks, and the ways in which risks in these projects are traditionally allocated. The results from these pilot questionnaires show that the owner is allocated a majority of the risk when using each delivery system. However, when using CMAR, the contractor is allocated more risk than when using DBB. Both owners stated that geotechnical risks are allocated differently based on the size of the pipeline and whether it is designed in-house or externally.

This paper will discuss a challenging 4,200 foot horizontal directional drill (HDD) crossing of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, with a 42-in. steel casing pipe and 36-in. high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) carrier pipe. The project provides a new force main for one of JEA’s largest wastewater pump stations, increases system reliability and provides operational flexibility for JEA. The existing pump station force main crossing the St. Johns River is a 42-in. ductile iron pipe installed over 40 years ago. Connections to the existing pump station were configured to avoid any pump station shutdown or bypass. The entry point for the HDD crossing started in the heavily used parking lot of EverBank Field-home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The HDD alignment traverses a number of surface and sub-surface features including a large box culvert, abandoned gantry rails and piles, a stormwater pond, piles supporting an elevated expressway, a deep bulkhead, and finally crosses under the St. Johns River. The project also includes a second HDD consisting of 840 ft of 36-in. HDPE pipe installed under a large drainage culvert, other utilities and abandoned infrastructure in the stadium parking lots. The pipe for both HDDs was delivered, assembled, and staged within the stadium parking lots. While there were significant challenges during pre-design and design to find the best route through the obstacles, the hard work paid off during construction with clearly identified existing features, settlement monitoring of key structures and construction being completed in time for kickoff of the 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars NFL football season. The success of this high profile project required close and constant collaboration between the contractor, designer, driller, client, and stakeholders.

Nonlinear finite element simulation tools are employed to investigate the bending capacity of internally-pressurized double-welded lap pipeline joints for a typical steel, with D | t value equal to 191.5. The study constitutes the first part of a comprehensive investigation on welded lap joints, which comprises both numerical simulations and experimental testing. The on-going research project is aimed at providing better understanding of welded lap joint behavior under extreme bending loading conditions, towards developing efficient design guidelines and safeguarding the structural integrity of steel water pipelines imposed to severe ground-induced actions. Herein, numerical work is presented, focusing on the global behavior of the lap joints, as well as on the value of local strains developed at critical locations. The present numerical results can be considered as preliminary, aiming at the efficient preparation and design of the upcoming experimental work.

This study investigates a schematic design for underground freight transportation (UFT) system terminals with utilization of pipeline infrastructure. The initial focus of this study was the operational and construction considerations within pipelines proposed to be constructed under the highways. The UFT construction considerations, cut-and-cover versus tunneling methods, are examined and compared along three routes. This system works through underground pipelines, and the project proposed a 250-mile tunnel between the Port of Houston (POH) and a distribution center South of Dallas (SOD) and two other routes, a 4-mile line at the Laredo border as well as a line between the Port of Houston and a satellite inland terminal 15 miles away. The UFT line was controlled by the power requirements of the linear induction motors (LIM) to boost fully loaded vehicles (gondolas)/capsules at the design operating speed as well as to address the safety requirements. The UFT tunnel is designed to transfer three load sizes of freights as Standard Shipping Containers, Crates, and Pallets. The schematic design of the UFT Terminal for those items is presented based on these three types of gondolas/capsules. The objective of this paper is to show how to develop a schematic design for the UFT system terminals for the three freight sizes considering. This study covers the UFT operational parameters necessary for operating the system for a 24-hour workday. Three schematic terminal designs are presented-one for each type of load, namely for standard shipping containers, crates, and pallets. Given the needed 250-mile UFT line between Houston and Dallas, this paper will show a line capacity of 2,880 containers/day/direction which would require 1,334 vehicles circulating in the line at 30-second headways. Also, the corresponding numbers of vehicles for the 15-mile Houston to inland satellite port and for the 4-mile Laredo border line are 80 and 22 vehicles, respectively. These lines would also have a capacity of 2,880 containers/day/direction for 30-second minimum headways. To satisfy these design needs, this study will present the case for all three schematic design solutions within the pipeline routes.

The design of reservoir piping and flow control valves for a 450 million gallon reservoir required coordination with multiple design teams and the procurement packages of large valves on the Integrated Pipeline (IPL) Project. The IPL Project is a water delivery system made possible through a partnership of the Tarrant Regional Water District and the City of Dallas. Together they provide raw water to over four million people in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Black and Veatch was responsible for design of IPL Sections 12, 13, and 14 which consists of approximately 28 miles of 108-inch water transmission pipeline and over 7,000 LF of yard piping at the Midlothian Balancing Reservoir (MBR) site including large fittings and several 108-inch gate valves and butterfly valves. At the interface between IPL sections 13 and 14 is the MBR site which is a three cell reservoir with an approximate total storage capacity of 450 million gallons. Each cell is fed by a 120/108-inch pipeline with 108-inch butterfly valves and gate valves used to control flow in and out of each cell. The MBR site was designed to either directly bypass the reservoir with a 108-inch bypass pipeline along the south side of the MBR site or to supply water to the reservoir by closing a 108-inch gate valve and sending the water to the three reservoir cells. The inlet side of Cells 1 and 2 were isolated with a 108-inch butterfly valve, and the inlet to Cell 3 was isolated with a 108-inch gate valve to allow for the future installation of a pigging receiving station. The outlet side of each reservoir was isolated with a 108-inch butterfly valve. This paper highlights the design requirements and the coordination involved for design and construction of the MBR site and the procurement of the 108-inch butterfly and gate valves. The MBR yard piping design included a 108-inch MBR bypass pipeline, 108-inch reservoir inlet and outlet header piping to all three reservoir cells, 108-inch inlet and outlet piping to each cell, and all special 108-inch wye fittings and 120-inch tees. Coordination was required with the reservoir design team on location of all reservoir piping and the connections to the 120-inch pipe to each reservoir cell. Coordination was also required with the IPL program management team on the design and procurement of the 108-inch gate and butterfly valves. These valves were pre-purchased in separate owner furnished equipment packages to aid in delivery schedule and to ensure that all butterfly valves were provide by a single manufacturer and that all gate valves were provided by a single manufacturer. All the valves were majority sourced, fabricated, and assembled in the United States of America.

Contract specifications are critical to the success of all construction projects. This is especially important when engaging in horizontal directional drilling (HDD) projects given the general lack of knowledge of the technology by the design community. Specifications serve as the tool to communicate the requirements and expectations of the owner and the owner’s representatives, and are the foundation for the construction documents that contractors rely upon to build the project. A poorly written specification does an inadequate job of communicating the owner’s expectations and is generally the cause of construction claims. The adoption of HDD for the installation of underground utilities and pipelines has increased over the past two decades further necessitating the need for comprehensive specifications. Unfortunately, HDD specifications often fall short of effectively communicating project expectations. In many cases, these specifications are constructed by “cutting and pasting” sections from numerous specifications thus often being unrealistically restrictive or falling short of addressing critical issues specific to HDD. This paper discusses some of the key elements for developing a successful horizontal directional drilling specification as well as identifying some of the pitfalls to avoid. Examples of both effective and ineffective HDD contract specifications are discussed, demonstrating the consequences of poorly written specifications. Additionally, the paper discusses the new Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Specifications Section 608 “Horizontal Directional Drilling”, which was released in January 2016.

Citizens Energy Group is implementing a Long Term Control Plan to address combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Included are provisions for a series of CSO diversion structures, consolidation sewers, drop shafts, and a tunnel for storage and conveyance. There are multiple tunnel segments as well as multiple near surface projects planned over a span of 10 years. The design and construction of the Fall Creek Collection Consolidation Sewer Phase I project faced challenges of construction in an urban environment around numerous utilities including existing water, sanitary, gas, and overhead electric utilities. Coordinating with other municipal projects that were being planned, designed, and constructed concurrently was also an aspect of the project during design. Additionally, coordination with multiple stakeholders and community neighborhoods, and managing project risks and schedule assisted with completing a successfully managed and executed project.

Product development and innovation is essential for a successful and long-lasting product. Look at virtually everything you routinely use and you can likely remember an earlier version that didn’t run as fast or jump as high. While iron pipe has improved in multiple ways and in various manners, its joint technology in general and restrained joint development in particular has been substantial. From leather gaskets and jute joints of the past, from labor-intensive cast-iron bolts and heavy glands, to restrained joints that deflect and telescope today, ductile iron joint technology continues to be innovative. This presentation will provide an overview of iron pipe joint development with an emphasis on restrained joint innovation and performance. Criteria such as configuration and accessories, assembly, deflection, end-wise thrust capacity, and other important factors will be presented. Specific applications and examples from projects in service today will be included. For those new to the pipelines industry, a comprehensive overview of iron pipe joint development will be provided. More experienced industry veterans will be treated to some historical insights and be brought current with the most recent innovations in joint technology and performance.

In 2011, the ASCE Task Committee on Thrust Restraint Design of Buried Pipelines (Task Committee) presented a paper detailing an improved approach to the design of thrust blocks and thrust restraint systems to improve current practice. This paper presented two rational approaches, “standard” and “simplified”, for the design of thrust blocks for all pipe materials, by considering the tolerable movement of the pipe, the structural integrity concerns of the adjoining pipe segments and joints, the characteristics of the soil, and an appropriate factor of safety. It has been noted that the simplified version of the improved approach presented in ASCE (2011) still required analytical representation of the flexure of the pipe in response to the movement of the bend and to the lateral resistance of the soil, particularly with respect to the first piece of pipe adjacent to the pipe bend. Such analytical representation is usually more involved than a design engineer is willing to use for a simple thrust block design. Considering this, the Task Committee has further simplified the assumptions used in the 2011 simplified approach and assumes that the first piece of pipe moves rigidly, with the pipe joints on either end behaving as connections free to slide axially and to deflect transversely. This simplification allows the “simplified” analysis to use simpler equations using readily available parameters such as bend angle, length of the first piece of pipe, ultimate soil bearing resistance, and the available extension and deflection capability of the joint. This paper presents the revised simplified approach, documenting the justifications and limitations for the assumptions made, and an example of its use for a common thrust block application.

Prioritization of water distribution system (WDS) pipes for replacement is a difficult problem and a function of several factors including the demands on the network, a pipe’s ‘hydraulic location’ in the network, and the likelihood of failure or defect of all pipes in the network. This paper presents a new algorithm termed pipe importance and priority evaluation (PIPE) which solves this problem and applies it to a real world WDS-San Francisco’s auxiliary water supply system (AWSS), a high pressure dedicated fire protection system (6,000 pipes with total length of 200 km.) which is required to have high reliability given the impact of earthquakes.

Air valve selection for water transmission mains and wastewater force mains must meet a variety of conditions to meet client needs. This includes factors such as performance, protection, cost, operations and maintenance, and owner preferences. Although AWWA M51 provides detailed guidelines for sizing and selection to meet performance criteria, this can often be in potential conflict with surge control protection. Surge control protection requires considerations such as column separation, vacuum formation and cavitation effects that often go with pumping applications or significant variation in pipeline profile. There is increasing pressure on infrastructure to avoid conflicts while emphasizing cost control and smart air valve selection can play a critical role in pipeline design. This paper will offer considerations associated with practical project design objectives, where it is necessary to satisfy both M51 and transient control criteria for satisfactory performance outcomes while also considering numerous other drivers that impact decision making. Several case studies will be reviewed that highlight different outcomes, all based on consideration of the competing needs on pipeline projects.