As part of the Haughton Pipeline Duplication Project in Queensland, kwik-ZIP HDX-90 spacers were used to facilitate the sliplining of a carrier pipe at two locations.
Completed earlier in 2020, the 36 km pipeline project involved a 54 m crossing of Woodstock Giru Road at Majors Creek and a 120 m crossing of the Flinders Highway and Great Northern Railway at Toonpan.
kwik-ZIP says its spacers were selected to help facilitate the project due to their ability to protect and support the carrier pipe during the sliplining process. The project included a DN 1800 glass reinforced plastic carrier pipe and a DN 2100 reinforced concrete jacking pipe for the casing.
kwik-ZIP says this project highlights its spacers’ “ability to support heavy carrier pipe installation on low friction wear pads that resist abrasion from the casing pipe surface”.
As the pipes were not being grouted after installation the spacers also need to support the weight of the pipe and water for the life of the installation.
The carrier pipe weighed 400 kg/m during installation and more than 3,000 kg/m when full of water. Due to the weight of the pipe and water, the kwik-ZIP spacer rings were installed at 0.5 m intervals.
The HDX’s unique load sharing design maximises the load bearing capacity of each runner and reduces point loading, creating a simple and efficient installation process that does not require any special tools.
Now completed, the pipeline project will provide Townsville with a backup supply of bulk water from the Burdekin Water Supply Scheme.
A homegrown innovation
kwik-ZIP spacers are the only Australian-owned product of its kind on the market. With a large range of spacers able to cater for various carrier and casing pipe size combinations, kwik-ZIP can provide flexibility to deal with all kinds of project requirements.
kwik-ZIP’s products have been developed to solve support, grading and centralisation challenges in numerous industries, seeing consistent use in many industry sectors such as horizontal directional drilling and trenchless pipelines.
The spacers contain no metal parts and are made from the company’s own engineered thermoplastic blend that is flexible, tough and has a low coefficient of friction – and the products are “used and recommended by pipeline and civil contractors, water and gas utilities, drilling companies and international engineering firms”.
kwik-ZIP has established stockists in Australia, the US, the UK and New Zealand and operates from its head office in Bunbury, Western Australia and maintains warehouse facilities in Sydney, Texas, US and the UK.
This article was featured in the September 2020 edition of Trenchless Australasia. To view the magazine on your PC, Mac, tablet or mobile device, click here.
For more information visit the kwik-ZIP website.
If you have news you would like featured in Trenchless Australasia contact Assistant Editor Sophie Venz at svenz@gs-press.com.au