Campbell, Reyes, Rush, James
Joints & Joining # 2001 Munich
This paper summarizes work that was undertaken to improve coiled pipe operations. Two different technical issues were addressed. The first is to improve the reliability and lower cost of gas mains by understanding the effects of excess ovality in plastic gas pipe. The second is to improve the handling of plastic pipe by developing a self loading pipe trailer. To assess the effect of PE pipe ovality on the reliability of service tees, a several tees were fused to oval pipe and tested for strength. Uniform ovality was induced on the sample pipes, appropriate fittings attached and tested. The results show that all of the fittings tested met performance requirements when installed on pipe with 10% ovality. To improve the operational efficiency of the installation of coiled pipe, a study was made of the duration of the steps -and support machinery - required to load pipe trailers. This investigation showed that loading the trailer often required the diversion of equipment that could be used more efficiently elsewhere on the job site. In particular, it was found that trenching is the step in the installation that determines how fast the job can be completed. However, the same machine that is responsible for trenching is often transferred to the operation of loading the coiled pipe trailer. Thus, a self-loading trailer can significantly accelerate the installation of coiled pipe.
