More Trenchless Thoughts - Part III

The wondrous thing about trenchless technology, engineering, and geology, is that as geology defines the constraints on a particular process, engineers and innovators solve the problem with creative methods, and come up with entirely new methods of doing the work. The trenchless community, though there is competition between manufacturers, vendors, and contractors, will work together frequently to spread the word that there IS a better way of utility installation and renewal out there, one which doesn't involve the risks or expense of a trench.

One recent example I've become aware of is pipe bursting. A pipe bursting "head" or bursting tool is used to split apart pipe and enlarge the hole around the pipe while new pipe is pulled into place. This can be accomplished with what's called "static" pipe bursting (actually the whole process is QUITE dynamic and exciting) or by pneumatic pipe bursting. In either case, new utility pipe which is larger than the original is pulled into place by a winch or pulled behind a pneumatic attachment which bursts the original pipe. The method works quite well for clay sewer pipe and concrete, as well as plastic pipes. With the addition of a cutting or scoring tool, you can even do it with iron or steel sewer or water pipe. The example below illustrates how pipe bursting is done. This is from TT Technologies' website at http://www.tttechnologies.com . They are a leading manufacturer of static and pneumatic pipe bursting equipment, as well as manufacturers of horizontal directional drills and pipe ramming equipment.

Geology, or the rock and soil conditions around the sewer pipe, is a very important consideration. When you burst a pipe, the fragments of the old pipe are pushed into the surrounding soil. Bursting works quite well in clayey soils, but it isn't done in conditions that originally had to trench into underlying rock. The rock provides a confining pressure to the soil around the pipe, and forces which would normally disperse into the surrounding soil along with the pipe fragments are directed upwards. This causes humping of the soil above. It can cause 'speed bumps' in highways. It can cause foundations to crack, and small building walls to crack or move. This is not a good thing, when damage is created when you're trying to upgrade a pipe.

Several options ARE available to you if you still want to install the pipe, that DON'T include open cutting the road. One is to use a small horizontal directional drill between manholes, with a "pipe reaming" attachment (this is a PATENTED process, developed by John Nowak of Kansas, and is called 'InneReam'), which actually removes the old pipe while you're drilling. Pipe bursting is STILL a good method for upgrading pipe between manholes. It may have some limitations, but you can get the job done in one way or another, and still do it with trenchless methods.

As always, the mention of TT Technologies and John Nowak's InneReam method does not imply approval nor endorsement by Trenchless Geologist. This information is provided to the reader to make his or her own decisions, and to encourage the use of trenchless technology.

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

More Trenchless Thoughts- Part II

Why trenchless technology? Protect the man in the trench is but ONE reason. Another reason is MONEY....I'm not talking about the short-term. In the longer term, trenchless installation and renewal is the BEST way to go. If you're putting a horizontal boring underneath a highway, you'll see an immediate savings. You don't have to pay for traffic control if you're not digging a trench in the middle of the road. Figure maybe three to four thousand dollars a day for trench traffic control. And you NEVER get the road fixed up to the same standard it was when it was originally installed. You get a dip after it settles or a speed bump if you put in too much asphalt or concrete to cover the trench. That's two strikes on trenched or 'open-cut' installation right away.

Now, what about BUSINESSES? Trench right in front of a shopping center, and the shoppers don't want to go throught the hassle, or the mud, to go in....that results in a loss of potential revenue for the business. With a trenchless installation, you're away to one side of the business, not in front of it. The shoppers may notice vibrations, but that's IT! Government won't lose revenue either, from the taxes they gain on gross reciepts. Heck, you can even PARK on top of a trenchless installation/repair...nobody will know the difference. Government can even reap the benefit of the fares on the parking meters!

We can go on and on and on about the reduction in costs to the citizen by the use of trenchless methods of repairs, but only your city government or state government can make the conscious CHOICE to make their repairs and installations trenchless, and thus minimally invasive.

These, among other subjects regarding trenchless technology, will be explored in future posts.

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

More Trenchless Thoughts - Part I

I've read a lot lately on trenchless technology, and I've worked a whole lot on developing ideas, specifications, jobs, and what can be done to increase the public's awareness of the technology. The public must be continually informed about a technical subject such as this, so that it may be informed of changes to prevailing thinking, of advances in techniques and methods, and so that the technology may be put to use.

Horizontal directional drilling, or HDD, started in much the same way. There was an economic incentive to start with. It started with oil. How do you complete multiple holes from a single platform in the water? You drill directionally. With a deviance from vertical of one-degree per every ten feet of drilling rod length, you get a 90-degree turn at 900 feet in rod length. You control the direction with a gyroscopic device downhole, and bingo, you can complete multiple oil wells from a single offhore platfrom. Saves a load of money on moving the platform, and you don't have to have multiple platforms. The technology was originally brought onshore by Martin Cherrington (see his website at www.cherrington.com for more details on the technology and its applications -Martin isn't kidding when he says that he has more experience than anyone else....heck, he invented the technology for utility crossings)

With horizontal-directionally drilled utilities, you do it with a drill bit that's shaped like a spade. It goes off at an angle when it's pushed, and goes straight when it's rotated. You can get an angle of between 4 and 10 degrees from the original direction by the time you reach the end of the rod. In-bit radiotelemetry that a crew member (known as a 'locator") walks over with an electronic locating device gives a pitch, angle, direction, and depth for the bit. Thus, HDD is a steerable technology.

Most all fiber-optic crossings of creeks, rivers, driveways, highways, etc., etc., are made this way today. It's environmentally friendly, cost-competitive, and effective. What else can you ask for?

Here's a pic of an HDD rig for you to ponder....... the rig shown is a CME-50DD, made by Central Mine Equipment of St. Louis, Missouri. CME is known for its manufacture of geotechnical drilling equipment. My drillers use both the CME-45 and the CME-850. I've also been around the rubber-tired CME-750, and the CME-55 and CME-75. Want to see 'em? Go to http://www.cmeco.com to find the rigs.

These website linkages are not in any way an endorsement of the products or services available from Cherrington or Central Mine Equipment. The purpose of this blog is to INFORM, not to pass judgement.

Trenchless Technology - What It's All About

I'm still amazed that more people don't know about trenchless technology, the means by which underground utility product pipes are installed and repaired. It happens on a daily basis in the US, and worldwide as well. I promised to give the whole scoop here, and this post is the start of that.

We use underground utilities every day. Water. Natural Gas. Sewer. Phone. Electricity. Cable Television. Sure you've got a lot of this stuff (phone, CATV, and electricity) up the poles, poles (though they're cheap to install and maintain) make a negative aesthetic statement. Stuff like water and sewer, which you have to bury below the frost line, are ALWAYS underground. EVERYBODY needs utilities.

Now, what happens when you need to install a new water line, for instance? Do you dig down 6 feet or so, put a man in a trench, and connect the big ductile iron mains or PVC laterals by hand? OK, how wide is your trench? Is the man going to be down in the bottom of the trench? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE TRENCH WALL COLLAPSES? Needlessly in the US, utility men and others die as the result of trench collapse. They can't get the people out of the trench fast enough to prevent them from suffocating. Trenchless installation involves NO TRENCH....so you can't have a trench collapse on somebody's mom or dad...which could lead to their DEATH. This is NO JOKE.

Why did I decide to get involved in this? I saw a better way of doing what we're all accustomed to, in burying our underground utilities. Also, there's only one way to insure success when putting a pipe underground with a trenchless method of horizontal boring. You should know IN ADVANCE what type of soil or rock you're putting it through, so that you can choose the right method for the job, and the right type of pipe.

Pipe ramming is one method that's used . The photo here is of a pipe ram that we did in 2002 at the University of Missouri Capsule Pipeline Research Facility, near Columbia, Missouri:

The pipe is actually being driven into an embankment by the use of a reciprocating hydraulic hammer, called a pipe ram, attached to the end of the pipe. The end of the pipe being driven in has a reinforced steel leading edge that will crack its way through any boulder or cobble in the path of the pipe. It's VERY effective. The main problem with this method is that it takes more time to weld each new section of pipe on than it does to ram a section of pipe in. It's also 'dumb', meaning you don't have a whole lot of control over the line and grade of the pipe once you start ramming it through.

Still, it's a great method to use. We decided to use this method here because there might be possible glacial erratic boulders of quartzite or basalt in the clayey glacial till we drove it through.

Trenchless Geologist

Quarries, Mining, and the Like

I get a little bit amused as of late when people start talking about others in the mining and quarrying business, especially when they don't know the background on what they're talking about. Some people talk like they're 'experts', and they're not. Some individuals (particularly gossipy ones) say, "Well, my son (daughter, niece, nephew, etc.) has been working at (has been doing business with, has been to, etc.) that place, and he/she says.......". Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad. Most times, those who haven't been there, done that talk like authorities that they are not.

I promise you that my facts are straight, having either BEEN THERE, RESEARCHED THAT, or BEEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PLACE. No second hand stuff.

First off....Missouri is blessed with an abundance of limestone quarries. LOTS of them. There are none in the Mississippi River alluvium counties of Pemiscot, New Madrid, Dunklin, and Misssissippi, but there are loads in other places that make up for it. I've been to a LOT of the quarries in the state as a function of my job, from the Lafarge quarry at Marshall Junction to the underground limestone mine at Sugar Creek (LaFarge's Courtney Ridge Property near Independence, Missouri) to Boone Quarries near Columbia, to the Weber O'Fallon quarry in O'Fallon, to Eminence quarry near Eminence.....the list goes on and on...... Folks need to realize that the number one industrial mineral in both absolute dollar value and tonnage mined EVERY SINGLE YEAR in the United States is LIMESTONE AND CONSTRUCTION AGGREGATE. Without a doubt. It's everywhere....the concrete and asphalt that we walk on....cinder blocks to make buildings....cement, concrete.......need I say more?

I even get to see stone occasionally that others might not...like from South Dakota a few months back. There's a formation in the Rapid City area known as the Sioux Quartzite. It's Precambrian in age, meaning greater than 540 million years old. It's actually pretty damn close to a sandstone, except the grains are welded together from the confining pressure. Supposedly, it's pretty good for coarse aggregate for asphalt. There are some clayey seams to it, and these seams are a sort of metamorphosed claystone that are called "catlinite", or "pipestone", since it can be carved into pipes, like the Lakota used for peace pipes and such. There's even a Pipestone National Monument. Well, I get on the Internet to learn a little more, and sure enough, there's a picture of the quarry. I explained the problem to the aggregate laboratory that we have, and they agreed with me, and it took all of 15 minutes! Sometimes, you do quarry geology from your desk, but I MUCH prefer being there.

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

Drilling

As geologists, we're trained that the most important part of our job is field verification. You go out in the field to look at outcrops, collect samples, and then put the field data into particular formats. Sometimes, this is easy. Sometimes it's hard. The main thing to remember is that you VERIFY your thinking (and those of others) with FIELDWORK. When you can't find an easy road cut, or see a surface outcrop, what do you do? You drill to get the information that you need. This is especially important in the case of foundations for buildings, highways, all sorts of civil works.

An engineering geologist most likely uses a geotechnical drilling rig. It gets what you need down to several hundred feet. Today, I thought I'd show a pic of one.


Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

Abandoned Underground Mines

One of the most hazardous situations that people can be exposed to, and never know about, is the presence of abandoned underground mining. The State of Arizona has the most abandoned underground mines in the United States. Missouri has some, too. Actually, we have quite a few underground mines. The City of Kansas City has more underground space than any city in the United States. Notice here that I didn't say 'abandoned". The ones in Kansas City are still useful - they have been converted to underground storage and businesses. The LARGEST one is one owned by Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt. Called "Subterra" , it's the equivalent in space of sixteen Arrowhead Stadiums. For those of you who don't know, Arrowhead Stadium is where the Chiefs play.

But back to the abandoned ones....dangerous. In coal mining areas, they're VERY dangerous. I would never go in one of those. But last week, I had the opportunity to enter an abandoned underground limestone mine in the St. Louis area near O'Fallon, Missouri. Why?

The whole point is a phrase which I'll repeat over and over for the rest of my life - "geology in the public interest". It was the right thing to do. There was something drawing me to my day with destiny. Scientific curiosity is one thing, but flirting with danger is not my forte. I had to make sure that it was SAFE enough to where there was only a REASONABLE RISK to me. What is life, and living it, but taking risk and reaping the rewards? There were no monetary rewards other than my normal paycheck at the end of the week, but there was a distinct satisfaction in BEING THERE, where no one else had been in 40 years.

The mine, it was alleged by one individual, was underneath Interstate 70. In Missouri, that's a MAJOR east-west route, with over 75,000 vehicles per day using it, including heavyweight trucks. If it were under the Interstate, it was possible after 40 years that a catastrophic collapse could occur. Lives and property could be at stake. So, I was called by the Deputy Chief of the O'Fallon Fire Department, to be the geologist that would determine if safe entry could be made, to determine once and for all time whether or not the mines went under I-70.

What do you do? You're breaking the initial safety rule with abandoned underground mines, of "NEVER ENTER!" You attempt to make it as safe as you can, and come up with rules and procedures to protect yourself once you're inside. What could be dangerous to us? I came up with a list:

1. Toxic gases like sulfur dioxide or sulfur trioxide
2. Asphyxiation from carbon monoxide or confined space conditions
3. Critters like poisonous snakes
4. Explosive gases, such as methane
5. Rockfall - like "widowmakers" from above that could crush you in an instant
6. Potential hidden water-filled shafts or air ducts
7. Hazardous waste dumps

Any of the above can KILL you. I sort of discount #3 in the wintertime on snakes, but larger critters? How about a skunk? That's another type of hazard altogether, and it sticks with you. Bats carry rabies....that's no fun. Bird droppings from nesting pigeons or swallows are a potential hazard. So critters....not to be discounted. Hard hats, steel-toed boots, safety glasses. We had to be READY.

But we went ahead anyway, and on Thursday, Dec.1 we entered the mine. We had an explosive/toxic/ problem gas detector, set at the lowest limits. We carried poles of 1"by 2" lumber, to poke whereever we stepped. If we encountered hazardous waste or gas problems, we would exit. The mine made it back 225 feet, ending a mere 75 feet from the highway right of way only 40 feet above us in elevation. The main gallery was several thousand feet long, and paralleled the highway. We walked out all of it, "checking the four corners", before we re-emerged into the sunlight. Job over. No mine shafts determined to be under I-70.

It was anticlimactic. The job was done, but I went to bed early that evening. I was satisfied. I had MADE A DIFFERENCE that day.

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

Where do we go from here?

Now that I've established the thinking for the beginning of the story, let me give you some pictures, just for fun:

I've been involved in one aspect or another of engineering geology for over 15 years now. I've collected a few photos, and want to share them with you, and perhaps get YOUR thoughts and impressions.

The first photo here is of a sinkhole that opened up at the Wal-Mart store in Columbia, Missouri in June, 2005. Luckily, no one was hurt. It was caused by a break in an underground galvanized corrugated metal pipe, and the soil around it washed away during a 4" rain event. It DID, however, do serious damage to the outdoor lawn and garden center at the Wal-mart. I don't know if there was a sudden increase in sales at Home Depot's lawn and garden center as a result, but it's an interesting postulate to make that the collapse had some effect other than the property damage that occurred.

This next image is of a crater, not a sinkhole, that was caused from ABOVE, when a propane truck blew up on Route 6 in Utah, this past year. When natural gas explodes, it does so in two steps. First, it evaporates and fills up the air space around it rapidly. THEN, it ignites. This phenomenon is called a BLEVE (prounounced 'blev-ee", and rhymes with 'levee", short for "Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion" . The sheer SIZE of this crater is amazing to me, and I copied it off of CNN.

Sinkholes and craters- these are two of the things that engineering geologists are interested in....and believe me, I've seen my share. These are two examples of what has been considered by other geologists in the category of "man-induced land subsidence". Underground utility breaks are fairly common, and depending upon the utility, can create big subsidences that swallow things. The explosively-induced crater is unusual, in that normally it's caused by a gas main BELOW the sinkhole that's created, not cratered from above.

There are other examples, too....man-induced land subsidence includes collapse of abandoned underground mine land. You get all kinds of problems from abandoned mines.

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

Welcome to my blog, and to my thoughts!

Greetings!

This post will, I hope, be the first of MANY posts that deal with my life, travels, and endless fascinations with trenchless technology and engineering geology.

What, first, you ask, is trenchless technology?

It is the installation, upgrade, or renewal of underground utility product pipe by means that don't primarily involve the use of a trench. Big deal, you say. Yep, sure is. Telephone cables coast to coast are installed in this manner. Electrical cables can be installed this way....no more need for the telephone poles that dot the landscape. Natural gas, sewer, water, cable TV....ALL can be installed like this. Important? Yep. Means that people don't have to get into a trench to weld or connect pipe. People die every year in trench collapses. It's no joke.

Not every job needs trenchless installation, and it does cost a little more....but it's rapidly becoming competitive with trenched and above-ground methods. More on trenchless technology in later posts.

Engineering geology is what I do to make my meager living. I work in Missouri, the state that has the lowest-paid state employees on average in the United States. And I'm a state employee. Why do I still work here and not in the private sector?

Pride.

Love of what I do.....I'm allowed a lot of leeway to get the job done, and I travel all over the place inside and outside of Missouri.

Travel....Whoops, I said that already.

Quality of life.....there's another issue to cover in the future.

I hope you enjoy your visit here. Come back again anytime, and share your thoughts and comments with me. I'll try to read 'em all..........

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist