RUSSIAN REHAB

It is not for the first time in Russia that international pipeline rehabilitation technologies are being used alongside Russian CCTV cutting and sealing robotic systems on technically difficult pipeline sections. One example is the rehabilitation of a 600 mm diametre concrete sewage pipeline in Kirovsk, in the Leningrad region in northwest Russia utilising the Insituform method. In the course of renovation, contractor, Per Aarsleff A/S from Denmark, encountered a serious problem as one of the pipe sections was extremely worn. There were many protruding reinforcement bars and concrete intrusions as a result of collapsed joints and pipe displacement. Aarsleff counted about 15 such protrusions on a 200 m section.

A C-200 cutter robot from TARIS removing a steel protrusion in a pipeline.

As the Insituform method utilises a technique of laying a sleeve impregnated with polymeric material in the host sewer it doesn't allow sharp protrusions into the pipeline. After the pipeline CCTV inspection, Aarsleff warned the customer that adequate rehabilitation of that section was not possible due to possible multiple sleeve damage. According to the contract, the preliminary cleaning and preparatory works were at the expense of the Russian client. So prompt action had to be taken especially as the end of the year was approaching and any extension could have lead to prolonged work duration due to certain bureaucratic issues.

The Russian general contractor decided to engage the services of the Moscow-based Russian research and production association, TARIS, that specialises both in manufacturing robotic systems for pipeline CCTV inspection and localised repair. Three days after the initial enquiry from the general contractor a mobile unit with a C-200 Cutter Robot started work on protruding elements in the Kirovsk sewer pipelines. The C-200 Cutter Robot is a self-propelled tractor designed for undertaking cutting works in pipelines from 200 mm diameter, which is fitted with colour pan & rotate camera and a cutting head with extencive movement and a powerful spindle. The robot is operated via a 300 m long cable wound on a cable drum that is placed in the rear of a truck. The work was finished in two days. The next day the Aarsleff successfully completed the renovation of the pipeline.

Since 1996 TARIS cutter and sealing robotic systems have been used by Mosvodokanal (Moscow City municipal water enterprise) both for localised repairs in pipelines with difficult access and for preparatory work before renovations. In 2001, during renovation works on the Moscow pipeline system Mosvodokanal Emergency Works Department utilised the Swage lining technique utilised by Per Aarsleff A/S along with a C-200 Cutter. More than 40 on-site contracting jobs and 138 intrusive elements were cut-off (steel rods, intrusions, encrustation, etc.). Just one section of 1,000 m long required cutting works on 60 intrusive defects.

Since 1998 the C-200 Cutter has also been utilised by MosGas State Enterprise (Moscow City minicipal gas enterprise) for preparatory works on gas pipelines before the Phoenix type rehabilitation with contractor Preussag Rohrsanierung GmbH of Germany. The Cutter has been used not only for cutting intrusions or milling welded jooints but for localised bandage or sleeve installation works on major leakages and lateral connections when they were to be shut down, when the hole in the host pipeline was bigger than that using Phoenix standarts.

The same method for in-pipe bandage installation with the help of TARIS robots for major leakage repairs is being utilised by Moscow company UNIMOS, which undertakes rehabilitation prjects for water mains through the use of technology from contractor Niedung GmbH, Germany. So, the Russian market experience shows that both international and local technologies are used in the course of trenchless rehabilitation of pipeline with the prevailing usage of locally manufactured robotic systems that proved to be particularly suitable for the local conditions.

No-Dig International, March 2003