Full Description

This presentation chronicles the construction of a water main crossing of the Ohio River. The project ishistoric in the use of horizontal directional drilling to install the pipe in that it provides for theinterstate sale of drinking water. The greatest technological challenge to the project was the installation ofa 36-inch main across the river. Horizontal directional drilling is a trenchless construction technologywith increasing use in the water supply industry. This project demonstrates the application of thetechnology for installing large diameter pipes over long distances. Route selection involved not only consideration of the final pipeline alignment but also the stagingarea where the pipe was to be welded to prepare the string to be pulled into the bore. At the crossinglocation, the river is 1,800 feet wide. The total bore length was nearly 3,000 feet. The end locations wereselected to permit the angular bores down to and back up from the crossing elevation and to provide setupareas on either side of the river for the drilling equipment and the drilling mud handling systems. Theroute crossed beneath a bridge and required precise steering of the drilling head to pass between the pilesupports for the bridge.Photographs show the pipe staging and drilling operations. Challenges encountered during the operationare discussed, and observations on the application of directional drilling in the water industry areprovided. Includes figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/16/2002 Number of Pages: 15File Size: 1 file , 2.3 MB