Trans Mountain Corporation utilizes the complete range of trenchless methodologies to realize the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP) Pipeline

摘要

The original NPS 24 Trans Mountain Pipeline was constructed in 1953. Other than some basic tunneling, majortrenchless construction was not available at that time for the oil and gas pipeline industry. This year, 2020, TransMountain Corporation has started construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP) pipeline. Thispipeline project involves almost 893 kilometres (555 miles) of NPS 36 and 122 kms (76 miles) of NPS 42 pipelinefor a total length of 1015 kms or 630 miles. The pipeline extends from Edmonton, Alberta to Burrard Inlet inVancouver, BC. Major trenchless crossing construction is helping to make this pipeline possible, including a 2600meter long (1.62 miles) TBM tunnel, as much as 1300 meters (4265 feet) of MTBM microtunneling, 2500 meters(8202 ft) of Direct Pipe, 33,000 meters (20.5 miles) of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), as well as HorizontalDirectional Boring (HDB) and all of the more conventional boring methods. A pipeline project with this magnitudeof trenchless construction has never been attempted before in North America and possibly anywhere and only thesecond time has a pipeline been constructed from Alberta to the BC coast. This paper will describe the process oftrenchless selection and design for this world class project and some of the major routing, geological andgeotechnical issues that had to be overcome.