Pipeline Construction Projects Research Articles

Enhancing sustainability considerations in construction industry projects

AbstractIn today’s society, the construction sector significantly influences all three aspects of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social. Industry and academia have recognized sustainability in construction projects as a key concern. The New Zealand government also focuses on providing a sustainable construction sector centred on high performance, high productivity, enhanced innovation, and improving community well-being through a better-built environment. Project management and sustainability are two distinct areas of research. Previous empirical research on the effectiveness of construction project implementation lacked sustainability success components. This research aims to provide criteria for project sustainability success for future performance on construction projects. Based on the existing literature, many economic, environmental, and social sustainability indicators were compiled for consideration at various pipeline project life cycle phases. The information gathered from the Scopus database was analyzed using ATLAS.ti 9 software to create project sustainability success criteria. Pipeline construction projects and sustainability must focus on environmental challenges while managing economic and social advantages. The research investigated sustainable construction adoption, revealing weak awareness among organizations due to limited understanding among key actors like clients, regulatory bodies, and construction organizations. Lack of effective application of sustainability guidelines, inadequate legislation, and building codes were significant hurdles in implementing sustainable practices in the construction sector. The study highlights essential issues to promote sustainable practices in the industry. The study findings suggest that organizations and individual factors are strong predictors for achieving sustainable construction and are vital antecedents leading to greater sustainability adoption. Finally, the study points to construction project managers’ knowledge of how to set up criteria connected to sustainability and how it could affect the outcome of their projects.

Sustainability principles in infrastructure project delivery: establishing the broader implementation strategies for decision-making

Purpose The purpose of this study is to get a clearer knowledge of the reasons for, approaches to and challenges associated with integrating sustainable development concerns into pipeline construction projects in New Zealand. To achieve this, this study delves deeply into sustainable construction to understand the reasons behind and incorporate sustainable development trials into their newly established product management and development procedure. As a result, this study looks at identifying key elements of sustainable construction practices and various interpretations of sustainability in the construction industry; offering a strategy for incorporating sustainable construction practices into the pipeline construction project in New Zealand; and benefits and difficulties that the construction industry encounters when implementing sustainable construction. Finally, a framework is developed to help in understanding the issues and potential solutions for integrating sustainable building methods into the pipeline construction project in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach This study followed a four-step method (Figure 1), beginning with the identification of the data, continuing with the first screening of the data, determining eligibility and, finally, including the data. This data collection is being done to provide knowledge and direction for further research. Data were collected from various websites on the Web of Science and from Scopus databases. Additionally, data were gathered with the assistance of aggregator databases such as Scopus (scopus.com) and publishing databases such as Elsevier (sciencedirect.com), Inderscience, Taylor and Francis (tandfonline.com), Emerald Insight (emeraldinsight.com) and Google Scholar. These databases have been considered by a number of scholars to be reputable databases. Findings This research provided a thorough description of the key justifications for sustainable construction. This study demonstrated how the idea worked in practice by reviewing the literature on the relevance and analysis of sustainability in construction. This body of research identified crucial components of sustainable construction techniques and varied interpretations of sustainability in the construction industry. To better grasp the current application considerations in the construction sector, it also offered literature on sustainable construction methods. To determine the most effective strategy to make certain adjustments to the current construction processes, the literature also includes a wide range of sustainability-related topics in both developed and developing country contexts. This study also demonstrated the many perspectives and strategies for sustainable behaviors. Because the purpose of this study was to develop a strategy for implementing sustainable construction in New Zealand, it was of the utmost importance to shed light on the most well-known and prominent sustainable construction applications from across the world. The output of this aim provided the literature on construction practices to acquire insight into the ongoing conversations on sustainable practices and systems in the construction industry. This was done to obtain insight into the existing talks. Originality/value This research's contribution to the body of knowledge is demonstrated by the fact that this study has led to a better understanding of sustainable construction practices in the construction industry as well as the identification of the most significant challenges that businesses, organizations, educators and policymakers must face to improve their ability to put these strategies into practice. This research has provided a solid foundation for future research that aims to advance knowledge in this field by providing options for future research to evaluate the influence that the approach has had on enhancing the implementation of sustainable construction. Additionally, this study presents options for future research to evaluate the influence the approach has had on improving the implementation of sustainable construction. The successful completion of the research aim in the more traditional forms of higher education in the built environment can contribute to a better representation of new trends in the practice area associated with expanding and improving the construction industry sustainably.

Localization of underground pipe jacking machinery: A reliable, real-time and robust INS/OD solution

Accurate positioning is important for guidance control in pipeline construction, but traditional approaches fail in GPS-denied environments. This paper addresses the underground localization problem for the pipe jacking machine by presenting an Inertial Navigation System (INS)/ODometry (OD) scheme. It is a loosely coupled navigation system that combines an INS and an OD to provide reliable, real-time, and robust location estimation in an enclosed and restricted space. The combination is achieved by a multi-sensor fusion algorithm to avoid the divergence of standalone INS. Compared with the traditional localization technologies, the advantage of the INS/OD scheme is that there is no performance degradation or service failure despite severe blockage of the thick soil layer due to the selection of dead reckoning-based sensors. Moreover, an Unbiased Finite Impulse Response (UFIR) filter serves as the fusion mechanism to improve the robustness against a prior knowledge of noise, considering unknown and time-varying noise statistics in practice. The INS/OD scheme is verified through a numerical simulation and employed on-site in a real underground sewage pipeline construction project. Despite the construction site being more than 10 meters deep underground, the INS/OD scheme continues to perform reliably and robustly in real-time, significantly benefiting the engineering guidance enterprise.

Fuzzy Logic Method To Manage The Risks Of Oil And Gas Pipeline Projects To The Environment

Pipes are one of the supporting infrastructures that are needed in oil and gas projects. However, oil and gas pipeline construction projects have very complex risks and have a major impact on the environment. On the other hand, environmental factors are one of the risk factors for oil and gas pipeline projects with a value of 14% [2]. The existence of risk factors that are not managed properly will have a negative impact that accumulates and causes a hazard. Therefore, an affective risk analysis method is needed. The purpose of this study is to analyze the risks of oil and gas pipeline construction projects to the environment using the Fuzzy Logic method based on data obtained from questionnaires distributed to Oil and Gas Cooperation Contract Contractors operating in East Java – Indonesia. The results of the analysis show that of the 20 (twenty) risk factors, there are 2 risk factors that are at a high level, namely financial performance risk with a value of 14.9 and contractor experience risk with a risk value of 14.9 and the fuzzy logic method are considered to be used as an effective reference in decision making, this can be seen from the results of the calculation of the accuracy value which shows that the risk analysis system for the environment is accurate with an accuracy value of 0.90 which means the accuracy level is very high.

Predicting Accident Outcomes in Cross-Border Pipeline Construction Projects Using Machine Learning Algorithms

Predicting Accident Outcomes in Cross-Border Pipeline Construction Projects Using Machine Learning Algorithms

Influence in the right-of-way: Assessing landowners’ risk decision-making in negotiating oil and gas pipeline easements

Pipeline rights-of-way (ROW) are the result of complicated easement negotiations between pipeline operators and landowners, where landowners must frequently weigh the financial benefits of lucrative contracts against the potential risk of living alongside oil and gas infrastructure projects. This study analyzes a survey of landowners both directly and proximally involved in a pipeline construction project to better understand their risk decision-making processes. We examine how landowners in a ROW understand risks across personal, property, and environment related risk domains, then compare these results to neighboring landowners. We additionally assess how landowners’ relationships to pipelines have changed due to direct positive and negative experiences with these projects. Findings suggest that landowners’ assembled knowledge of pipelines and resulting risk calculations are, in part, determined by personal exposure to pipeline development and negotiations with pipeline operators. We also find evidence of risk discounting in instances where landowners benefit from the pipeline project, or seek to justify their historical risk calculations. Results of the study reveal why landowners assume risks of proximity to pipelines. These findings can inform the practices of community interest groups engaging with landowners, as well as policymakers pursuing rulemaking to protect landowner interests.

Using digital technologies to plan and manage the pipelines network in city

AbstractPromoting the intelligent level of urban pipelines network planning and management is an important way to improve the rational development and utilisation of urban underground space and ensure the safe operation of urban infrastructure systems. The research on using the rapid and visual expression technology of 3D pipelines network model data, which has the functions of techno‐economic indexes calculation and automatic comparison of underground pipeline construction projects, effectively avoids possible errors in manual calculation and comparison and improves the efficiency and accuracy of the digital declaration process for project planning. In the 3D Geographic Information Systems (GIS) platform environment, this research help to develop many analysis and approval functions based on the data of the underground pipelines network model and the integrated pipes gallery Building Information Modelling, such as evaluating the compliance, feasibility and scientific of the planning scheme of the underground pipeline construction project, comparing the completion data with the data approved by the administrative departments of the project, evaluating the consistency of them and judging the compliance of the project completion data. The application results of some actual projects cases show that this research can improve the efficiency of planning declaration and approval analysis.

Identifying and Ranking the Root Causes of Schedule Delays in Oil and Gas Pipeline Construction Projects

Delays in completing the construction of oil and gas projects impact the production, sustainability, reliability, and revenues of the company, which result in market share losses in the long term. This research aimed to determine, evaluate, and rank the root causes of schedule delays in oil and gas pipeline projects in Saudi Arabia. Forty-seven different causes were identified firstly from a wide-ranging literature review and then finalized through conducting interviews with two local experts. These causes were ranked by distributing and analyzing questionnaires on the topic. Client-related materials, delays in materials and equipment delivery, permit approval, delays in subcontractor work, and delays in preparing and approving engineering drawings were found to be the top five major causes affecting oil and gas pipeline construction projects. From the initial analyses, it was observed that an adversarial relationship was apparent as the results indicated that the parties tended to blame each other for the delays. The sub-causes of the initial five causes were identified and root cause analysis was performed. A delay in the material and equipment delivery category had the most weighted sub-causes; hence, it is of high importance to mitigate it. Further recommendations were made for different delay causes.

Modernisasi Kota: Saluran Air Bersih Perpipaan di Jawa Masa Kolonial

The clean water pipeline is a project initiated and designed by the Dutch East Indies government to overcome the problem of water cleanliness in urban areas in the 20th century. At that time, clean water in colonial cities was becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth, among other things. The increasing number of residents causes water pollution in urban areas to increase. The colonial government realized the impact caused by the pollution. Several disease outbreaks began to emerge and attack the city community. Efforts to construct boreholes/artesian wells do not appear to be going as expected. Therefore, the government designed a clean water pipeline construction project to drain water from springs to the colonial city. After the construction of these new facilities, colonial cities underwent significant changes, such as an increase in living standards and cultural changes in urban communities.

A complex spherical fuzzy CRADIS method based Fine-Kinney framework for occupational risk evaluation in natural gas pipeline construction

Occupational risk evaluation is one of the most indispensable issues in the risk prevention and control process for the natural gas pipeline construction (NGPC) project. The Fine-Kinney model, recognized as an effective occupational risk evaluation technique, has limited capability to handle the occupational risk analysis problem under the complex spherical fuzzy (CSF) environment. Accordingly, a synthetical Fine-Kinney framework based on the compromise ranking of alternatives from distance to ideal solution (CRADIS) method is developed to overcome these downsides of occupation risk analysis in the NGPC project within the CSF context. A prioritized weighted average (PWA) operator for complex spherical fuzzy numbers (CSFNs) is incorporated into the group risk evaluation matrix generation process, which can take the priority degrees of experts into account. Then, the extended CRADIS method-based Fine-Kinney framework is generated, in which the Choquet integral for CSFNs is incorporated to reflect the impact of interactive risk factors. Next, the detailed solution procedures of the framework for handling the occupational risk evaluation problem are presented. Finally, the described framework is employed as an empirical example of occupational risk analysis for the NGPC project to demonstrate its feasibility in practice. After that, a sensitivity analysis of the parameter is investigated to testify to the stability and rationality of the reported synthetical Fine-Kinney framework. Subsequently, to further display the advantages of the developed Fine-Kinney framework, a comparative study is implemented to discuss the evaluation result of occupational risk derived from the proposed framework and those of the existing similar Fine-Kinney frameworks. The analysis results indicate that the occupational risk (attack by human or animal) with the maximum risk priority value (1.000) using the framework is identified as the most serious risk for the NGPC project.

Management and Safety Control of Long-distance Natural Gas Pipeline Construction Project

Management and Safety Control of Long-distance Natural Gas Pipeline Construction Project

MANAGING TECHNOLOGY IN OIL PIPELINES INDUSTRY

This study identifies a few technology management issues of operating oil pipelines in oil industry and suggests an analytical framework to resolve those. This study focuses on the pipeline system design, pipeline coating selection, route selection, construction management, and pipeline inspection and maintenance issues. Operating oil pipelines in an optimum capacity through out its life, effective construction management and failure free operations are considered as critical success factors in oil transportation business. Operating oil pipelines in derated capacity due to deteriorating pipeline health or lack of demand, non-ability of augmenting pipeline capacity despite of demand, non-achievement of time, cost, and quality of pipeline construction projects, and many failures of pipelines despite of huge expenditure in inspection and maintenance are the common phenomena in oil pipelines industry. These not only cause business loss, but also increase stakeholders’ concerns for sustainable development. This study addresses the above issues using an analytical framework through stakeholders’ involvement. Keywords: Pipeline operations, technology management issues, analytical frameworks, group decision-making.

Development of a Risk Management Plan for the construction of the Karian – Serpong water conveyance

The Karian - Serpong raw water channel construction project is a pipeline construction project to supply drinking. This water channel flows raw water from the Karian Dam in Lebak Banten to the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) located in the Serpong area. This airway project has a higher composition in its implementation, urgently needs management planning, so that the project can run well and be completed, it does not require delays. This study aims to identify risks, analyze the impact and risk response and compile them into a Risk Management Plan as a supporting document in the implementation of the construction of the Karian - Serpong water conveyance. The study was conducted using the method of Literature Study with Meta-Analysis of research that had been done before on similar construction projects. The results of this study found the supply of materials and equipment needed in the pipeline construction project was the dominant factor influencing the time performance in the pipeline development project. Environmental conditions are protests from residents around the project and the condition of busy traffic around the project is also a dominant factor affecting the speed of project implementation. As a risk response in this research is the equipment and materials must be done well before the project runs, during the project must be controlled and ensured always available in the project following with the needs of the project. Communication and coordination with residents around the project must be done well, traffic around the project must also be regulated properly so as not to regulate pipeline construction projects. It is hoped that later this Risk Management Plan can be useful for contractors in managing risks during project implementation and providing input to the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing for subsequent implementation of similar projects.

A New Approach for Occupational Risk Evaluation of Natural Gas Pipeline Construction with Extended Cumulative Prospect Theory

The natural gas pipeline construction project possesses different kinds of highly risky occupational hazards because of its complex and dynamic surrounding environments. Occupational risk evaluation is one of the most effective techniques to reduce and manage these risks and hazards. There are various kinds of techniques to address the problem of occupational risk evaluation, however, most of these techniques overlook the decision-makers’ different risk perceptions under the different probability of risk occurrence. In addition, current occupational risk evaluation approaches are unable to cope with the risk analysis problem including correlated risk parameters within the random and fuzzy context. Aiming to compensate for these limitations, we present an extended occupational risk evaluation method for a natural gas pipeline construction project by integrating the cloud model, cumulative prospect theory, and Bonferroni mean operator. In this framework, four risk parameters in the safety and critical effect analysis (SCEA) are introduced to rate the risk of each occupational hazard. Then, the normal cloud model is utilized to transform the linguistic risk evaluation information into quantitative data, which can model the uncertainty of randomness and fuzziness in the risk evaluation process. Next, the extended cumulative prospect theory based on Bonferroni mean operator is constructed to derive the risk magnitude of each hazard considering the decision maker’s different risk perception and interactions among risk parameters. Finally, the proposed extended occupational risk evaluation method is tested by the risk evaluation of the concrete coating procedure. The sensitivity and comparison analyses are led to validate the rationality and reliability of the proposed occupational risk evaluation method.

Modelling of Materials Management System for Cross-country Pipeline Project from Client’s Perspective

In managing a pipeline construction project, the selection of vendors, the procurement of materials, developing optimum inspection policy, planning and managing the inflow of materials at different point of time, managing desired level of inventory, proper storage of materials, managing outflow of materials backed up with flow less transportation process and minimizing of wastages at the construction site are big challenges faced by all clients of a cross-country pipeline project. Therefore, on this backdrop, an attempt has been made to construct a materials management system that is applicable for the construction of a cross-country pipeline project. In this context, the objective of this research work is to model the materials management system by applying different methods to take care of vendor selection, materials inspection, materials storage, materials transportation, controlling stock, and managing wastage of materials at the project construction. The methods used for conducting this research work are Garret’s rating technique, and physical system theory (PST). After reviewing different problems faced by the Morbi–Mundra pipeline project team of Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL), it is expected that the model developed would remove problems faced by GSPL and would facilitate different clients of a pipeline project to complete the project without any time and cost overrun.

Comparative Risks of Hydrostatic and Pneumatic Pipeline Testing

Abstract An important step in a pipeline-construction project is confirming that the piping and facilities are adequate for the expected operating pressures via static strength tests. All fluids have mass and internal energy. Fluids under pressure have significantly elevated internal energy. All fluids are compressible to some greater or lesser extent, and the fluid added to raise the pressure of the fluid in the bulk volume adds significant energy. The raw mass of a fluid must be considered when evaluating terrain elements and support elements (i.e., pipe stands and pipe racks). The selection process for a test fluid should always endeavor to minimize the total risk of the entire process. Code-guidance has historically not shown a clear preference for the selection of one particular test medium over another. Some jurisdictions have written regulations that step away from ASME guidance and do show a clear preference for hydrostatic testing over pneumatic testing. This preference manifests itself in several ways, but the primary representation is the requirement in statutes and regulations that a pneumatic test should have an “exclusion zone” around the test to reduce the risk of injury during the test. These documents tend to not have an exclusion-zone requirement for hydrostatic tests. This paper is undertaken to demonstrate the relative risks of liquid versus gaseous test media and presents a background of why pneumatic tests have been singled out by regulators as higher risk and shows why this regulatory preference can result in increasing risk rather than decreasing it.

Sustainability Assessment of Construction Technologies for Large Pipelines on Urban Highways: Scenario Analysis using Fuzzy QFD

Urban highways users frequently face disruptions due to construction and maintenance of buried infrastructure. In conventional open cut construction, social costs (vehicle operating and traffic delay costs) are generally high at work zone construction areas (WZCA). Municipalities also bear additional costs due to early maintenance of alternate routes, i.e., non-work zone construction area (NWZCA). Besides, work zone and non-work zone areas together experience significant potential socio-economic and environment impacts. In addition to minimal disturbance to existing socioenvironmental setting and user cost savings, trenchless construction result in agency cost savings by avoiding early maintenance at NWZCA. Past studies primarily focused on social costs associated to WZCA. In present research, a sustainability assessment framework has been developed that includes agency and user costs at both the work zone and non-work zone area. The framework evaluates various traffic detoured scenarios (for open cut construction) and trenchless technology scenario based on all three dimensions of sustainability. Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment (Fuzzy QFD) method has been used to incorporate the interaction between the agency’s sustainability objectives and public expectations for large-sized pipeline construction projects in urban areas. The framework effectively handles the uncertainties associated to data limitations and vagueness in expert opinion for subjective assessment criteria. To evaluate the pragmatism of proposed framework, it was applied on the case of a storm sewer construction project in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. Trenchless technology was found to be the most sustainable construction scenario followed by the open cut scenario with 50% traffic detoured to NWCA. The proposed methodology is also sought to enhance decision making process pertaining to the viability of trenchless technologies in KSA and elsewhere.

Preventing regional social and environmental conflicts during oil pipeline construction projects

Preventing regional social and environmental conflicts during oil pipeline construction projects

A decision-support system based on Pythagorean fuzzy VIKOR for occupational risk assessment of a natural gas pipeline construction

Natural gas pipeline construction projects are major projects between countries that include onshore and offshore sections. Aim of these projects is to supply the natural gas from one place to another. Safety of workplace, environment and employers is also another important argument. In this respect, it is essential to conduct an occupational risk assessment (ORA) study to eliminate the risks that may arise around the pipeline. Application of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods for the ORA has shown great increase recently. Also, developing a decision support system (DSS) which is easy to use and capable of extracting results enables decision makers to assess health and safety risks. Therefore, (i) A DSS based on Pythagorean fuzzy VIKOR (PFVIKOR) in ORA literature is developed for the first time; (ii) A case study is employed to risk assessment for trenchless crossings installation by auger boring process of the pipeline project; (iii) A sensitivity analysis is performed in the results of PFVIKOR-based DSS; and (iv) Two additional risk parameters called sensitivity to PPE non-utilization and undetectability are considered in ORA process apart from the classical risk assessment parameters of severity and probability. Developing such a DSS and applying it for risk assessment in a natural gas pipeline construction will contribute stakeholders in the energy industry.

Effectiveness of soil and water conservation associated with a natural gas pipeline construction project in China

AbstractA natural gas pipeline extends over a distance of 310 km in the Hebei Province of China and passes through various zones of natural vegetation, mostly wooded. Construction required a working width of about 40 m and a 1.4‐m‐wide trench to be dug to a depth of 2.4 m to enable the installation of a pipe with a diameter of 1,016 mm. The construction process had to manage an irregular configuration of terrain with steep slopes, varying degrees of instability, and a propensity for erosion and land degradation. To prevent potentially massive soil erosion and further deterioration of the affected environment, a comprehensive soil and water conservation plan was designed and implemented. A 3.25‐km‐long study area was selected in rugged hilly country and was divided into seven topographic zones, with slopes ranging from <10° to over 50°. Different soil and water conservation measures were adopted in each zone, including engineering measures, revegetation measures, and maintenance measures. One year after installation, trees planted in individual holes grew well in each zone and the vegetation cover on the slopes treated by hydroseeding exceeded 90%. In addition, run‐off and sediment yield on slopes were significantly reduced. These conservation measures were conducive to environmentally sustainable development and may serve as a scientific reference for ecological restoration and vegetation reconstruction in future pipeline construction projects in similar terrain. Furthermore, these measures also helped to ensure the safe operation of the pipeline and provided protection for people living and working along the pipeline route.