2015 Steel Water Pipe Products Entries

120-inch Wye Fittings for DeValls Bluff, Arkansas

Project: The design, manufacture and transport of two 120-inch diameter spiral-welded steel pipe wye fittings for the Grand Prairie Pump Station in DeValls Bluff, Arkansas. These fittings are the largest ever made by our company.

Background: The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer – a water source for small towns, rural water systems and farm irrigation in eastern Arkansas — is running dry. According to the Army Corps of Engineers’ website, a project study in the mid-1980s pointed out, and further studies have since shown, the region’s groundwater resources are rapidly shrinking.

As part of its plan to preserve and protect the Alluvia Aquifer – and the deeper, more recently tapped Sparta Aquifer – the Army Corps of Engineers is constructing an irrigation system that will bring more than 100 billion gallons of water annually from the White River at DeValls Bluff to about 250,000 acres of farmland in Arkansas, Lonoke, Monroe and Prairie counties.

The system will include a $26-million pump station and 1.5 miles of pipe to carry water from the pump station to a 100-acre reservoir, where it will be distributed to area farms.

Design Challenges: The challenge began with the design of the fittings, which could not exceed 18’, the maximum allowed width for transport by truck through states including South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. The fittings are 17’3”.

In addition to width, there were also height restrictions to consider to ensure the fittings would clear underpasses, bridges and train trusses encountered along the way. Also during the design phase, our research team was called on to provide a 3D model of the fittings to identify the center of gravity for correct positioning of the fittings on the truck. A special rack was then designed and built to hold the fittings in position.

Transport Challenges: The route was driven and mapped ahead of time to determine the best roads to travel. The jobsite is in a rural part of Arkansas. The route included miles of two-lane back roads, a challenge for a shipment that takes up one-and-a-half highway lanes.

This project included four, 78″ diameter discharge headers that will move water at 1100 cubic feet per second from the S-401 pump station building to the future C-44 reservoir. There was a total of 600 feet of 78″ diameter x 5/8″ thick spiral welded pipe which had to be precisely engineered to run four parallel lines from the pump connections, make double offsetting bends, and each hit four pre-existing concrete support piers. Each line included a 78 x 78 x 78 welded tee with a specially fabricated blind flange.

Also included along with the fabricated steel pipe was (20) 78″ diameter, 316L stainless steel sleeve couplings. Each coupling required an AWWA ring harness restraint system.

The fabricated steel pipe was furnished with an 80 mil system of polyethylene tape coating and lined with 20 mils of polyurethane.

This job was fabricated under extreme time constraints for a “Milestone 1” deadline and was completed and installed on time and with no problems.

Steel pipe suction header, 159-1/2″ outside diameter made from 1-3/4″ thick material that spans a length of 101′-0″. There are eight reducing tangental outlets (84″ x 60″) spaced evenly along the length of the 159-1/2″ header. These outlets were fabricated from 1-1/4″ thick plate and had to be reinforced with a 1″ thick x 101″ long wrapper plate at the connection to the header.

The field connections were used for assembly of this header was a combination of flexible couplings used at the 159-1/2″ header, field welding at the connection of the tangental outlet to the header and class 150# plate flanges that connected to the valves that preceded the pumps.

Both fixed and sliding type pipe supports were also furnished for the steel pipe on this project. The supports for the header were made using 2″ thick steel plate complete with leveling bolts for the bases and reinforcing pads where the supports connected to the main header. Due to size and weight restrictions for shipping these, supports had to ship loose and be welded in place in the field. Supports were also furnished for the tangental reducing outlets. These supports were made from 3/4″ thick material and shop welded to the tangental outlets.

The 159-1/2″ o.d. suction header was shipped by truck in six pieces in various lengths that were 16′-0″ wide and approx. 14′-0″ tall. The weight of these pieces ranged from 32,000 lbs. to just over 100,000 lbs.

All of the pipe described above was placed inside a 132′-0″ diameter dewatering shaft and lowered by crane to a point that was 170′-0″ below the ground surface.

The Hyperion project was a replacement for an existing line that had been in operation for over 50 years. The line serviced a large portion on the wastewater generated by the City of Los Angeles. All the piping for this project had to be removed and replaced during a short shut down window of only five weeks. With the multiple compound laterals and the tight surroundings of the existing structures, there was absolutely no room for error.

The main header began at a diameter of 123”, then reduced down to 96”, and finally reduced down to 85” diameter. The wall thickness ranged from 5/8” to 3/8” thick. From the different diameters, five 60” laterals branched off from the main headers and routed through an existing wall and connected to an existing valve and pump. Each one of the laterals needed a crotch plate ranging in thickness of 1 ½” to 3” thick. Man ways with davit arm assemblies were added so the interior of the line could be serviced.

The entire system was lined with a ceramic epoxy lining, specially designed for wastewater pipe lines. The coating was a multi coat zinc/epoxy system with an aliphatic finish top coat to keep field painting to a minimum.

The project consisted of construction and commissioning of a new 7 MW hydroelectric powerhouse (design flow of 375 cfs) at the base of Friant Dam located north of Fresno, CA. Ancillary equipment included welded steel penstock up to 110-inch in diameter, 11/16” thickness, and three large steel fabricated wye fittings with up to 3-inch plate reinforcement, epoxy lined and coated.

Installation involved, the removal of an existing 48-inch diameter penstock, provide space to install the new 110-inch bifurcation and penstock at the bottom of the dam, including exposing and removing existing reinforcement. Space for the installation of the new 110”x110”x78”, 78”x78”x48” and 72”x72”x42” steel wyes was very limited. Coordination with the contractor was critical in order to ease installation and ensure the steel pieces were the right size/length to fit in the restricted area.

The project provides a safe and reliable source of clean energy using a renewable source while also protecting the environment.

The project owner is in the process of upgrading their transmission and delivery infrastructure. All of the work is in dense urban areas, which requires exact delivery times and the fabrication to be exact.

The project schedule did not allow any slippage on deliveries. In order to accomplish this we were able to coordinate both of our plants to allow multiple pieces including the 132″ x 132″ wye to be delivered in the time frame required. This wye weighed over 80,000 lbs. with the lining and coating installed.

This intertie connected an existing pipe line to an existing pressure control structure. The lower level of piping connected the existing transmission line. The vertical wye connects to the pressure control station approximately 1,000 feet away with a series of horizontal and vertical bends that weave through the existing pipelines and other structures that cannot be moved. This required strict adherence to the dimensions on the drawings.

The Davis-Woodland project plays a critical role in meeting the growing water needs of Northern California. Over a mile of piping was supplied on this project and was used to feed pumps, run water to and from the storage tank and throughout the facility.

The buried portion of the pipe received a multi-layer polyethylene tape coating system. The above grade portion of the piping system received a 16 mil epoxy coating. All of the pipe received cement lining by “spinning” the pipe and having the cement applied centrifugally.

Lewis & Clark Regional Water System will provide treated water to its member municipalities and rural water systems. When completed, the System will provide safe, reliable drinking water through its members to over 300,000 people in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. Lewis & Clark’s member systems will use this new source of water to either replace or supplement existing sources of supply.

Through careful engineering analysis, the Missouri River was determined to be the most viable source of water for Lewis & Clark. Utilizing a series of wells to tap into an aquifer adjacent to the Missouri River near Vermillion, SD, when completed the System will distribute treated water through 337 miles of pipeline to members in a roughly 5,000 square mile area, the size of Connecticut. The maximum capacity from the completed system will be 45 million gallons per day (MGD) with the ability to expand to 60 MGD in the future.

Segment 2 of the Minnesota Treated Water Pipeline included almost 67,000 feet of 24-inch welded steel pipe. The pipe was manufactured in 50-foot lengths with rolled groove joints and was cement mortar lined with polyurethane coating. The rolled groove joints allowed for quick installation by eliminating the joint welding. The polyurethane coating for the steel pipe was chosen not only for their service life, but also for their durability needed for the conditions they would endure during the transport and installation of the pipe.

Assemble, fit and weld 5000’ of 112” to 36” diameter butt welded pipe, meeting ASME B31.3 and 100% RT acceptance criteria, including (2) two major manifolds, one within a vault under the LARGEST NASA Rocket test stand in the USA. This stand was used to test all Apollo Saturn V Rockets used for the moon missions, all Space Shuttle main engines, and will be used for future Orion rockets with missions to Mars.