The Challenge
Our client had several process pipes routed below plant access roads which were either directly buried or routed within culverts. These pipes were expensive and disruptive to expose and inspect on a regular basis, whilst below-ground culverts were subject to flooding issues.
To overcome these issues, IKM was asked to develop designs for several overhead steel pipe gantries.
Existing pipes were to remain in situ and operational throughout the duration of the gantry construction works. Existing pipes would then be re-routed in phases to minimise disruption to the plant operations. The final solutions adopted had to take into account a range of challenges such as existing buried services, the proximity of live process pipework, ground contamination and adjacent live roads.
The Solution
IKM provided multi-disciplinary design services to successfully complete the design and detailing of various overhead steel pipe gantries allowing pipes to be routed out the ground to assist with ongoing maintenance whilst maintaining the existing plant roadways. IKM provided the following key services:
- Utility and topographical surveys to identify all existing above and below-ground services
- Pre-Excavation Contamination Assessments (PECA) to identify any known risks to personnel
- Review of the existing geotechnical information to identify foundation safe bearing pressures for the site
- Design of reinforced concrete foundations
- Design of steel portal frame gantries, providing minimum clearance for site heavy haul route, using computer modelling software
IKM also had to take into consideration the temporary support requirements of existing pipework and overall improvements to traffic management and utility protection.
