Abstract
The new territories exploration for housing construction and production facilities within the country and the increase in the export of hydrocarbons require the constant development and improvement of pipeline transport. There are often cases when the need for the pipeline network crossing by various obstacles is recognized as the only possible design solution and economically reasonable, among the most difficult of which there are water bodies. Natural and waste water, oil and petroleum products, and gas are transported by underwater pipelines crossings. Aiming at optimizing the design and construction of underwater pipeline crossings requires constant monitoring of the technologies, equipment, and materials offered by the modern market. The research methods were based on the review of current regulatory and technical documentation, modern scientific and periodicals, and security documents. A special feature of the underwater pipelines crossings design is needed to predict the channel processes for the entire estimated period of their use. Underwater crossings construction is made by the trench and trenchless methods. The latter ones, which are currently the most popular, imply the following main types: horizontal directional drilling, directional drilling, tunneling, microtunneling. The construction technology choice is determined by the topographical features of the water body bottom, its hydrological characteristics, the geology of the construction site, the required length, the diameter of the pipeline network, and the features of the surrounding area as a whole. The results of the review study may be of interest for the specialists in the field of pipeline transport.
Highlights
There is a need for the construction of such structures as underwater crossings for pipelines to cross water barriers
The relevance of the survey study is caused by the state of the main pipelines, which are currently in use in Russia: more than 50 % of the total length of the pipeline networks are at the stage of the technical «obsolescence», that means that they require major repair in the near future, a number of objects require re-laying due to the changes in the direction of transport movement, changes in economic policy
In particular, in the construction of pipeline crossings by the directional drilling (DD) method in soils with a large number of abrasive inclusions, an additional reinforced coating is recommended, which eliminates damage to the main insulation
Summary
There is a need for the construction of such structures as underwater crossings for pipelines to cross water barriers (watercourses, reservoirs). Underwater crossings are made at water supply, sewerage, gas supply networks and pipelines transporting hydrocarbons, and are characterized, as a rule, by special design and construction difficulties. The purpose of the study is to review and analyze the methods and means of constructing underwater pipelines crossings and to make a comparative analysis of the most optimal technologies. The relevance of the survey study is caused by the state of the main pipelines, which are currently in use in Russia: more than 50 % of the total length of the pipeline networks are at the stage of the technical «obsolescence», that means that they require major repair in the near future, a number of objects require re-laying due to the changes in the direction of transport movement, changes in economic policy
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