United Kingdom Society for Trenchless Technology: UKSTT - March 2003

Following last year's very successful Awards Dinner at the new venue of the Palace Hotel, Manchester, tickets for this year's event on 11th April are being booked at an unprecedented rate. Over 60% of last year's ticket allocation has already been taken up by people wanting to participate in this most prestigious event. Enquiries for tickets should be sent to Vicki Gallagher at the ICE, at the address below.

The formula will be the same as in 2002, with Bill Oddie again presenting the Awards, but with new face -Peter Nelson - providing the social entertainment. Improvements to the pre-dinner bars have already been put in hand, and additional stage lighting will be provided.

We are indebted to our sponsors for this event: Alfred McAlpine, Barhale Construction Ltd, Byzak Ltd, Ferro-Monk Systems Ltd, Haswell Consulting Engineers, Severn Trent Water, South West Water, Thames Water, and Subterran

On 4 February 2003 the society was invited, together with the British Tunnelling Society, to address the All Party Parliamentary Group for Underground Space (APPGUS) at Portcullis House, Westminster on the theme 'Holes in the Road - Can We Make Them History?' Our objective was to enlighten the parliamentarians involved in this important working party of the technology that is available for installing utilities in the highway with the minimum of disruption.

Lawrie Quinn MP (Chairman of APPGUS) chaired the evening, and Helen Natrass, secretary of the BTS began the proceeding with a short introduction before handing over to Anwar Sardiwalla of London Electricity, who provided an interesting insight into the underground network of cable tunnels and substations located beneath the centre of the capital.

The Excell competition was launched in memory of the late Paul Schmidt, founder of the German Tracto-Technik company. The competition is open to all UK contractors in the directional drilling industry, not just TT Group customers, and the main emphasis is on practical job sites, generally promoting the idea of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD). Prizes will be awarded by an international jury to the best projects entered.

Participating in the competition means displaying the contractor's skilled role in the directional drilling industry, whilst creating a basis for the general international acceptance of this trenchless pipe and cable laying technique.

Pipe Equipment Specialists Ltd (PESL) has introduced a newly developed towing head designed specifically for use in directional drilling. This cost-effective towing head is suitable for use with pipes from SDR 11 to SDR 17.6, and prevents the ingress of drilling fluids into the pipe.

The new Mud Tight Towing Head is manufactured from high quality materials and is based on PESL's well-proven towing head designs. It incorporates several additional features including a rubber seal which is housed within the nose-cone / outer sleeve assembly. This seal which bears against the end of the pipe, is manufactured from a rubber compound that ensures a good, positive seal, whilst being resistant to damage.

To overcome any problems resulting from out-of-square pipe, the seal is held against the pipe by a strong spring which is compressed as the eyebolt is tightened. Using this patented method of sealing against fluid ingress avoids the need to dismantle and reassembly the towing head each time a different SDR pipe is used, thereby avoiding the risk of lost or damaged parts.

The eyebolt also incorporates an O-ring seal to prevent fluid ingress. It is long enough to pass right through the towing head, allowing it to be fitted with a rear nut or eye which prevents the towing head from coming apart during installation or removal.

A 250 diameter low pressure steel main spanning the Route National at Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, near Dunkerque in Northern France, became redundant due to the replacement of a section of the low pressure system by a 4 bar network. How to abandon this main when it was suspended from a bridge with insufficient space to use traditional 'bagging off' methods and cutting equipment posed a problem, particularly since the operation needed to be carried out under 'no-gas' conditions.

Gaz de France engineer Bernard Dhaene, having previous experience of the effectiveness of using expanding resin foam in the live gas mains insertion process, called in Ets Kilkenny.

It was decided to use techniques developed by British company Steve Vick International Ltd to drill and foam off the main, allowing a section to be cut out. A cap was then welded to the live side, and the dead leg of the main was purged.

Steve Vick International's patented Foam Bag system uses a semi-porous bag which is remotely positioned in the pipe to hold the resin foam in place while it expands. At full expansion, some foam seeps through the material to adhere to the pipe wall. Foam Bag kits and application equipment are available for pipe diameters up to 12" running at low pressure (below 50 millibar). Above this size, and for all medium pressure work, the company offers a contract service. The Foam Bag system is approved by Transco for use in the UK, and is included in their Engineering Procedures.

The UKSTT, along with the British Tunnelling Society and the Pipe Jacking Association, will co-host the 2003 Underground Exhibition and Conference to be held at ExCeL, London Docklands, on 24/25 September this year.

This event, which in the past has been badged as 'Tunnelling 97' and ' Mining and Piling', has been renamed in recognition of the important role that the utility industry and its contractors play in using trenchless technology for the development of underground networks.

UKSTT has been invited to host a session entitled 'Trenchless Technology a Sustainable Tool'. The programme for the session will be chaired by UKSTT Chairman Norman Howell (Subterra), who will present an 'Introduction and Overview to Trenchless Technology'. Dec Downey (J-D Associates) will provide an insight into 'Sewer Pipeline Rehabilitation and Installation' which will be followed by Jon Boon (Subterra) who will present 'The installation and rehabilitation of Pressure Pipelines using Trenchless Techniques'. The session will conclude with a presentation by Martin Kane (Severn Trent Water) on 'A Client's Prospective of Utility Construction'.

The International No-Dig 2003 event is jointly sponsored by ISTT and NASTT, and will be held in the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Featuring over 100 peer-reviewed technical papers, over 125 exhibitors and attendees from over 26 countries, it promises to be an amazing trenchless experience. The programme includes special short courses on microtunnelling and horizontal drilling, and an upper level construction management course.