Grand Rapids Pipeline Tie-in.

Efficiency and accuracy of data are crucial to success on any pipeline project. Keltic was recently asked to provide dirtwork, pipe design, and pipeline as-built services to tie-in a 20″ line to its pump station facility in a hilly area near Wandering River, AB.

Pipes were fit-up and welded in-ditch, so dirtwork had to be set up perfectly ahead of time to tight tolerances to reduce fit-up time. Any bumps and uneven sections in the dirtwork could mean the pipes would not sit level in the ditch. Keltic facilitated this by producing an original ground profile from which a detailed design was created that same day leading to the said design being approved by the client before leaving the site for the day.

Using this design Keltic was able to consult with the client on what sizes of pipe and where bending would be required long before the pipe arrived.

When dimensioning large diameter pipe there are a few ways to so, but most commonly the pipe is dimensioned with a pipefitting crew of 2 or more workers who quite often require the use of a crane of some sort to level the pipe and so on. Keltic’s crews are very familiar working with piping and have the advanced tools to get more information, quicker than traditional methods can. When the pipe started arriving at the site, Keltic was able to dimension the pipe long before the pipefitting crew was able even to get it levelled. We were able to spot a large problem right away with one of the pipe bends meaning that the pipe would not fit properly in the ditch. Getting that info to our clients quickly saved them from needing to make last-minute decisions as they had all the time in the world to get things sorted.