The Union Gas – Hamilton to Milton project is a 22km (13.6mi) long, 1219.2mm (48″) O.D. pipeline stretching between the cities of Hamilton, ON and Milton, ON. The main purpose of the pipeline is expanding the Dawn Parkway Transmission System route; Ontario’s main natural gas transmission route. Just shy of 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas travels through the Dawn Parkway Transmission each year.
Extremely rocky trenches and a higher than normal water table left the contractors with problematic trench conditions. Protection from the rocky trench was a requirement but during the lowering of the pipe, the water in the trench was displacing the foam pillows being used for protection (due to their inherent buoyant properties). This made lowering in the pipe virtually impossible. This was the perfect opportunity for the PipePillo™ structured pipeline support.
After consulting with PipeSak® engineering team for the best installation method to tackle the issue, it was decided that PipePillo™ pipeline supports would be tied to the pipe; tight enough that the PipePillo™ support stayed in place but loose enough that they could self-center during lowering in. The unique properties of the PipePillo™ pipeline support made the problematic installation conditions a non-issue.