Circulating Water Pipe Reline with Structural Fiberglass

After the steel portion of this underground circulating water pipe failed, Universal Blastco built an entire structural fiberglass pipe inside of the existing steel pipe.

PROJECT DETAILS

• INDUSTRY: Power Generation
• CUSTOMER: 1,018 Megawatt Power Plant
• LOCATION: Texas
• YEAR: 2014

FAILING STEEL PIPING

This power plant’s circulating water line was originally made of steel and concrete, and ran under the facility. The steel portion, which ranged from 6 to 8 feet in diameter, was beginning to fail from external corrosion. A rupture occurred and flooded the basement of the power plant – completely shutting it down for months. The only options were to completely dig up the entire line under the plant to replace it, or to try to fix the existing line with something else. The plant initially tried a polyurea lining, but it got torn out with such a high volume of water and ended up in one of the pump house units.

STRUCTURAL FIBERGLASS SOLUTION

Universal Blastco was then brought in to construct an engineered structural fiberglass lining that would be built inside the existing pipe. This inch-thick structural lining could take all the internal and external loads that the piping needed to handle. This “pipe inside a pipe” method will allow the original steel piping to continue to corrode without harming the new piping.

ACCESSIBILITY CONSTRAINTS

All materials and equipment had to be brought in through a single 24 inch manway. (Over 5,000 gallons of resin, all the structural glass, equipment and workers). Extreme safety measures were required for this.

MAJOR COST SAVINGS

Fixing the existing line provided this customer incredible cost savings compared to digging up the entire plant and replacing the line.