GRTgaz operates over 30 000 km of gas pipelines in France. The majority of these pipelines have been laid in trenches, however, when crossing a river, a highway or a railway, contractors are required to use trenchless technology such as Micro-tunneling, HDD or Direct Pipe.

Due to intensive pipe/soil interactions which exist, when utilizing these techniques, the coating can become damaged. Thus, to offset this damage, GRTgaz has developed its own decision support software to provide guidance in designing the appropriate coating thickness for trenchless pipe installations.

Based on an extensive description of the crossing profile, pipeline characteristics and soil properties, the tool has the ability to output maximum pulling load and stress during installation, hydrotest and operations.

It can also assist in choosing the best possible coating material by providing a risk estimation for each failure mode associated with a trenchless installation.

This paper will provide actual examples from the field and explain the calculation process behind the tool.

Subject
Piping, Friction, Pipelines, Field joint coatings, Drilling fluid, Tools, Installation, Thermal stress, Stress, Tensile stress, Coating defects, Horizontal directional drilling, Soil
Keywords:
HDD, Drilling, Coating
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2023
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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