Interflow Awards
Yarra Valley Water, the largest of Melbourne's 3 retail water companies, has a large sewer rehabilitation program under way on concrete pipelines, some of which are in an advanced stage of structural deterioration. |
The Problem:
A recent Works Package awarded to Interflow involved the renovation of over 2,000 metres of 225 and 150mm diameter concrete pipelines originally constructed between 1905 and 1919. All were classified as "Structural Condition Grade 5" - the most serious classification for structural deterioration.
It was important for Yarra Valley Water that the project could be carried out with minimum inconvenience to their customers.
The Solution:
The Expanda Pipe system was particularly suitable for this demanding project for numerous reasons:
- Many of the pipes to be relined had missing inverts and other pipe sections, together with significant surface corrosion and encrustation. The Expanda Pipe system expands with a circular cross section and a constant wall thickness, even under these circumstances. Therefore the pipe maintains structural integrity while maximising flow capacity.
- The project required much of the work to be carried out during strictly limited night time hours, to minimise disruption to customers. Expanda Pipe, a process which does not rely on time consuming heating or curing, had an obvious advantage.
- Working at night in a high density residential area meant that a relining system which produced little noise caused less community disruption.
- Because of the location of some of the access chambers, it would not have been convenient to park large work vehicles directly adjacent. Expanda Pipe allows such vehicles to work remotely from the access chamber.
- No by-pass pumping was necessary, further minimising noise, inconvenience and risk.
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Night time relining in Burke Rd Melbourne. |
The Project:
The work was completed at night with the longest continuous main to be relined being 129 metres. The deepest access chamber was 10.6 metres.
Despite much care being taken during initial cleaning of the lines, there were minor collapses and blockages with debris. The 'corkscrewing' action of the Expanda Pipe as it was installed and the care with which it was mechanically expanded, allowed these to be cleared without the need for costly and disruptive excavation.