The Sydney Olympic Park Complex is served by a comprehensive stormwater drainage system that covers all road, parkland and building drainage needs for the site. Apart from the system serving the Newington area, the stormwater drainage system is relatively new, having been completed during the late 1990s.
The equipment
ITS Trenchless (formerly CLM Trenchless) operates a fleet of hydraulic pipeline robotic units, for the internal repair and sealing of defective pipelines. The units are fully self contained and can operate in diameters of 135 – 800 mm. The robotic services available include:
- Cutting of intruding laterals
- Removing encrustation
- Preparation for lining
- Re-opening laterals, and
- Epoxy sealing of junctions and pipe defects.
ITS Trenchless’ Point-Liningå¨ System works hand-in-hand with its PMO robotic equipment. There is typically a considerable degree of repair work required that this equipment would need to undertake prior to any product being installed. The robotic equipment has the ability to recut junctions, remove tree roots and prepare the pipe to accept the Point-Liner.
Project scope
This project emerged after investigation by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA) found that the network had suffered significant damage during construction of the park site, and a number of other defects were detected that had not been identified prior to handover. ITS was awarded the project, which is based on key assessment criteria of experience, technical expertise, methodology and price.
This project involves the remediation of the stormwater system, constructed from concrete pipe ranging from 300 mm to 1,800 mm diameter and some large box culvert sections. The client, SOPA, was concerned that soil would infiltrate the stormwater drains through the fractures that had been detected. All of the fractures extended right through the walls of the pipe and, in some cases, exceeded 25 mm in width. Pipe lifting holes that were not plugged posed a risk of soil ingress by rodent entry, and defective cut-ins had exposed reinforcing steel that needed to be protected.
ITS Trenchless was engaged to undertake the necessary repair work to restore the structural integrity of the pipe network and to prevent further ingress of the surrounding ground into the conduit, preventing further subsidence of the surface. The scope of works included:
- Pipe cleaning;
- Re-survey of the storm water system, from which a condition assessment report identifying defects was prepared;
- Submission of a repair plan to SOPA; and
- Final repair.
Approximately 300 defects requiring repair were identified requiring repair. The pipeline robotics unit was used to prepare the pipe for a full structural repair, primarily through removal of various obstructions from pipelines. In performing the final repair work, three methodologies were used:
- Man entry for greater than 800 mm diameter pipe using cementitious and epoxy repair material
- Robot-applied epoxy injection for sealing junctions and pipe defects
- Point-liningå¨ for the repair of cracks, fragmentation, leakage, broken joints, capping off disused junctions, defective liner installations and localised corrosion.
As has been done for SOPA, similar works have been performed for the RTA NSW, Abi-Leighton (M7 Motorway), Thiess-John Holland (Lane Cove Tunnel), Leighton Contractors (TWay), where defects in new sewer/stormwater pipelines are identified as part of the hand over process for repair. In addition, work has been carried out on existing infrastructure that may have been damaged through new construction or rehabilitation works.