Secure sewage pipeline for an industrial settlement in East Brandenburg
The construction of a sewage transportation pipeline dedicated to discharging effluents from a recently established industrial plant via a pumping station into an adjacent treatment plant presented major challenges for all parties involved: Firstly, the pipeline was to pass under a federal motorway. Secondly, damages to forest and settlement areas were to be avoided. Thirdly, one segment of the pipeline was known to run through intensely contaminated soil. For all three of these challenges, the egeplast portfolio offered appropriate product solutions.
Inspection for intactness after trenchless installation
The 160-m segment of the planned new sewage pressure pipe meant to span a total length of approx. 6.5 km from the industrial estate onwards was to pass directly underneath the motorway (BAB10 – Eastern part of Berliner Ring). Rather than prepressing a steel sleeve, an SDR 11 egeplast SLM® DCT OD 400 mm pipe strand was pulled in directly using the HDD approach, thus providing the possibility to inspect the pipe strand for intactness following installation. The positive inspection result was recorded in the construction documentation.
Prevention of damages to the area
The further course of the pipeline was to transverse various forest and settlement areas for approx. 4 km. As for this segment, the main focus was to be on preventing damages to these areas and to minimise the impact on the infrastructure or public life in the region. An insertion length of 200 m minimum each contributed to fulfilling these requirements. In order to also minimise the risk of any damage on the newly installed pipe, the egeplast SLM® 3.0 sheathed pipe, also featuring the dimension OD 400 mm, was used.
Protection of the medium from contamination
As early as in the preplanning stage, it turned out that the subsoil of a particular pipeline section contained severely contaminated soil.
Deviating from the planned route, however, was not an option. Against this background, appropriate precautions to protect the medium which to be transported from potential pollution were to be taken for this approx. 500-m long section. Without these protection measures, the biological conditions in the treatment plant would have been exposed to significant hazards.
The products of choice were 20-m-rods of SLA® Barrier Pipe including a wide range of fittings to rigorously rule out any permeation of contaminants and to prevent any additional contamination of the sewage to be transported.
Moreover, in a settlement also located along the installation route, a water crossing was required. In view of the cramped conditions on either waterside as well as the far protruding bulkheads, installation using the HDD method was impossible. Instead, the crossing was carried out with the help of a sophisticated bracket construction which involved fastening the pipes to the bridge in a steel sleeve. The design integrated sheathed egeplast SLM® 3.0 pipes as well as various special fittings such as swan-neck bends plus additional customised structural components which had been fully planned, designed and prefabricated in advance, thus only needing to be integrated on-site.
In January 2021, the construction project was successfully completed after eight months. Following completion, the pipeline was first run in trial operation. The previously pending approvals were then also granted and the final project was ceremoniously commissioned on 22 March 2022.
Authors contact details
Daniel Stuwe
Email: daniel.stuwe@egeplast.de
Telefon: +49 151 4266 2668