With project deadlines approaching, the construction company engaged E-Pump to configure a bypass system that could lower the water level upstream of the pipeline crossing and maintain it.
A pipeline construction company was contracted by a major natural gas transmission utility to replace several hundred feet of 24” pipeline. Part of the pipeline ran underneath a stream with flows ranging between 15,000 and 20,000 gpm.
The project required a bypass solution to overcome difficult project parameters and provide a window of opportunity to replace the pipeline buried beneath the stream. A dam, located a few hundred feet upstream of the project location, eliminated the possibility of allowing water to back up if stream flow would exceed pumping capabilities. This meant that the bypass would require enough pumping power to handle the complete flow spectrum of the stream.
With project deadlines approaching, the construction company engaged E-Pump to configure a bypass system that could lower the water level upstream of the pipeline crossing and maintain it. With a successful history of similar bypass operations, E-Pump delivered a cost-effective and fail-safe stream bypass system designed to deliver one and a half times the maximum flow condition of the stream on demand.
E-Pump’s innovative bypass system deployed three 12” vacuum-assisted pumps to handle normal flows and standby pump power consisting of one 10” vacuum assisted pump, one 8” vacuum assisted pump and one 6” vacuum assisted pump. The array of stand-by pumps provided the construction company versatility and the ability to handle variable flow ranges without risk of over-running an individual pump. The pumps were outfitted with specially designed Low-Profile High Volume suction strainers to achieve the minimal water level without risk of entraining air into the bypass pumps. Any amount of air introduced into the system would significantly reduce bypass flow rates and could damage the pumps while running at high speeds.
Once again, E-Pump’s project design specialists and technical service crew worked together with Contractor project managers and site workers to deliver a calibrated bypass solution and meet project deadlines