12 research outputs found
Relining of pipe systems: conditions, benefits and application through case-study
No full textAbstract
Relining is one of the best alternatives available today for pipe system rehabilitation. This trenchless solution is particularly interesting for urban agglomerations, as a smaller diameter pipe is pushed or pulled through the old pipeline. Relining creates a leak-tight “pipe within a pipe” system, which is as good as new in both structural and hydraulic terms. Relining can be performed with both circular and special, non-circular (NC) profiles. The latter is especially advantageous for the rehabilitation of old sewers, many of which were constructed in a variety of ovoid-like shapes. This paper presents the typical steps that are performed for pipeline rehabilitation with non-circular profiles, as well as an applied case study (a project implemented in the city of Würzburg in Germany).</jats:p
Waterway Asset Management And Optimization Of Maintenance And Engineering Investments
No full textWaterway asset management is a holistic multidisciplinary approach for the development, maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of waterway assets based on a comprehensive life cycle costing approach. According to common practice river navigation is only shut down in times of extreme weather conditions (floods, extensive ice formations) but not at low-water conditions. In comparison to passenger transport which faces almost no further restrictions the goods transport is especially sensitive to low water levels and resulting lower fleet utilization. In order to ensure continuous and satisfactory fairway conditions throughout the year, which can be considered as basis for competitive transport prices, a number of recommendations and international agreements (e.g. AGN 1996, DC 1988, DC 2013) were established in the past. However, if available fairway depths are not included in the analysis, possible economic consequences on shipping companies and shippers are neglected. To overcome such setbacks of current approaches the presented asset management is based on the availability of fairway width and depth in days per year. With an infrastructure model of waterways including locks, ports and the navigational fairway the impact of various operational measures (e.g. dredging or shifting of fairway trajectory) or structural measures (e.g. river engineering structures like groyns or training walls) on availability can be simulated. The approach also includes a determination of necessary measure extent and duration of measure impact if selected quality criteria of the affected infrastructure fall below predefined limits. The concept of life cycle costs of waterway infrastructure as a part of the provided asset management approach is integrated as well by considering measure costs per unit together with the duration of measure impact. In order to provide a continuous fairway quality all shallow sections of the entire river have to be considered in the optimization process. As a result of possible measures the availability performance of individual sections is pushed outward beyond predefined fairway target parameters. For a manual maintenance optimization the availability curves are shifted outward starting with the most critical sections until the budget is spent. For an automated optimization the necessary budgets for different combinations of available width and depth have to be calculated leading to a 3D - cost surface. Together with the resulting transport costs it is possible to optimize with regard to recommended fairway parameters, a constrained budget or minimal total costs of inland navigation. The paper provides all necessary theoretical information, formulas and examples for a successful implementation of an LCC - based inland waterway asset management system together with practical references of already achieved results on the Danube
R
No full textIn today’s economy increased attention is given towards re-using of available resources and using of resources which are re-generable, to evaluate and reduce the impact on the environment. For the polymer industry, the development of alternative and renewable raw materials represents an essential task. The study evaluates the different choices of unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) for production of centrifugally-cast glass reinforced pipe (cc-GRP) systems. The environmental impacts of three types of resin were evaluated and compared. The resins are: UPR standard, UPR containing recycled PET material (rPET-UPR) and UPR containing bio-sourced material (BIO-UPR). The analysis focuses on comparing the variations in environmental indicators caused by resin selection for three increasingly complex product layers (Base plate of cc-GRP shaft, cc-GRP Shaft and 1km cc-GRP Pipe-system). The study equally provides an insight onto R&D and LCA collaboration across the supply-chain. One of the main challenges in LCA today is using specific data from the suppliers instead of generic data. The paper indicates how LCA tools and established R&D processes can be employed to transfer LCA calculations across the supply-chain. BIO-UPR and rPET-UPR are alternatives which are realistic in terms of costs and which ensure the required quality for the manufactured products. rPET-UPR can be used for production of complete pipe systems, with positive environmental indicators. Mechanical proprieties of BIO-UPR restrict its usability and use of this resin presents similarities with the debate regarding use of bio-diesel
Transport Economics And Impact Of Waterway Asset Management On Availability And Competitivety
No full textEconomic development is closely linked to the demand of transportation and the supply of transport infrastructure. From 1995 to 2007 the total freight transport in the EU increased by 2.6% per year on average and was expected to grow 1.7% per year until 2030. However, in the same period freight transport on inland waterways increased only by 1.5% and is expected to grow by 1.0 % per year based on the European Energy and Transport Trends to 2030 (2007). As a result the market share of inland navigation dropped from 4.0% to 3.5% from 1995 to 2007. Despite the fact that investment needs per tonne-kilometre are considerably lower compared to any other mode of transport only a fraction of actual (re-)investment needs are met. The main infrastructural setbacks of inland navigation e.g. on the Danube are a lower availability and utilization of possible loaded draught during low water periods as well as a limited amount of transport - affine bulk cargo and bidirectional utilization for this linear mode of transport. Possible bottlenecks arise especially in form of short stretches of shallow or narrow locations resulting in a limited navigability on the entire Danube. Therefore, even optimized fairway maintenance works and sufficient reinvestments on national river stretches will not yield the targeted results (e.g. AGN 1996, DC 2013) if just some of these bottlenecks will remain - e.g. due to a lack of resources or political and environmental restrictions. Waiting times as a result of oncoming traffic at narrow bottlenecks of a few minutes as worst case scenario are negligible in their cost-effectiveness compared to transport durations of one to three weeks. To compete successfully in the transport market IWT must be able to offer favourable transport prizes throughout the year. Through a high utilization of transport capacity, transport cost consisting of fixed and variable costs per ton can be distributed on a higher amount of goods leading to decreasing unit costs. Due to the high amount of fixed costs on the one hand, including standby costs incurred by provision of the vessel fleet and costs for pre- and end haulage, that have to be considered particularly for transport chains, and distance related comparably low variable costs on the other hand, IWS can exploit their advantages especially for long transport distances and bulky cargo. The paper provides an overview of transport costs for road, rail and inland navigation depending on utilization and transport distance on the transport market in Europe. With special emphasis on the vessel fleet on the Danube the impact of different levels of fairway availability on loaded draught and resulting transport costs are discussed. Based on an in depth research on all main cost factors of inland navigation it can be concluded that the necessary utilization of the vessel fleet to stay in the market ranges from 55 to 60 %. The paper concludes with an analysis of impacts of improved transport conditions on market shares in Europe in general and the possible prospects for different development scenarios in inland navigation
R&D and LCA Across the Supply Chain: Choice of Unsaturated Polyester Resins for CC-GRP Pipe Systems
No full textAbstract
In today’s economy increased attention is given towards re-using of available resources and using of resources which are re-generable, to evaluate and reduce the impact on the environment. For the polymer industry, the development of alternative and renewable raw materials represents an essential task. The study evaluates the different choices of unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) for production of centrifugally-cast glass reinforced pipe (cc-GRP) systems. The environmental impacts of three types of resin were evaluated and compared. The resins are: UPR standard, UPR containing recycled PET material (rPET-UPR) and UPR containing bio-sourced material (BIO-UPR). The analysis focuses on comparing the variations in environmental indicators caused by resin selection for three increasingly complex product layers (Base plate of cc-GRP shaft, cc-GRP Shaft and 1km cc-GRP Pipe-system). The study equally provides an insight onto R&D and LCA collaboration across the supply-chain. One of the main challenges in LCA today is using specific data from the suppliers instead of generic data. The paper indicates how LCA tools and established R&D processes can be employed to transfer LCA calculations across the supply-chain. BIO-UPR and rPET-UPR are alternatives which are realistic in terms of costs and which ensure the required quality for the manufactured products. rPET-UPR can be used for production of complete pipe systems, with positive environmental indicators. Mechanical proprieties of BIO-UPR restrict its usability and use of this resin presents similarities with the debate regarding use of bio-diesel.</jats:p
Asset Management Organisation And Policies For Inland Waterways
No full textFor transportation stakeholders the factors reliability, availability, cost-effectiveness and sustainability are fundamental for investment decisions. Due to historic, political and economic reasons inland waterways in the Danube region face the challenge of a resource patchwork, fragmented legitimacy and low effectiveness of maintenance measures leading to a declining importance of this mode of transport. The bottleneck in providing a continuous fairway quality differs from country to country and can be related to a number of budgetary, logistic, environmental and legal reasons. Furthermore, the incentive for providing sufficient fairway conditions differs as well e.g. due to the fact that the main shipping industry may be located in only a few riparian countries whereas the maintenance works have to be paid by all. In addition to different standards of hydrographic measurement and processing of basic data, the communication with customers does not match the state of the art without a comprehensive cross-border information portal that provides all the necessary information on a daily basis. With fairway availability in days per year regarding fairway depths and width as most critical factors just one bottleneck on the entire transport route is enough to limit the draught loaded of the actual vessel fleet and thereby the resulting competitiveness of navigation companies on the transport market. Maintenance strategies of respective riparian countries which are not coordinated may lead to under spending in one country and overspending in other countries. As an obvious result of such a "prisoner's dilemma" the recommended fairway parameters cannot be met by the means of one continuous waterway leading to an inefficient use of funds and unfavorable losses in market shares of Danube navigation. But even if the recommended fairway parameters could be met it would still be a matter of trust regarding the provided information of different waterway authorities leading to lower utilization and higher transport costs in practice.
The paper provides an overview on the current situation on waterway maintenance on all riparian countries on the Danube together with a comprehensive analysis of current bottlenecks and specific improvement potential. In addition, an organizational and budgetary framework based on a holistic waterway asset management system is provided which could lead to substantial improvements. With a determination of necessary funding on the one hand and guaranteed efficient use of these funds on the other hand a solid base for an efficient use of subsidies is provided. A central Danube waterway authority funded by all riparian countries with budget sovereignty being in charge for providing harmonized and guaranteed fairway conditions could therefore be an important step towards one single inland waterway. With funding national stakeholders as supervisory board it would be likely to achieve results that could benefit all participating parties and deal with disagreements on an appropriate level. If such an approach would receive additional funds from the European Union based on a rigorous quality assurance of investments for the common good the incentive for providing sufficient results would be even higher for all riparian countries
Performance based waterway management - transport market and competitiveness
No full textInland waterways have a high transport capacity at very low costs of transportation and comparably lower external and infrastructure investment costs. Despite those facts inland waterways lost shares on the transport market due to a resource patchwork with considerable uncertainties regarding availability of fairway parameters among other factors. On the Danube corridor in Austria the average transport dis-tance for inland navigation is rather long with 1.040 km compared to road (50 km) and rail (220 km). Due to their linear structures one single bottleneck on the waterway with insufficient loading depth will limit the utilization of the entire transport fleet. For typical goods and vessel types on the river Danube 1,0 cm of additional loading depth results in 7 to 14 t of further goods capacity.
With variable loading depths leading to an aver-age utilization of 55 to 60% on the upper Danube and 50 to 55% on the lower Danube inland naviga-tion was not able to use its potential. Based on the developed cost model for goods transport on road, rail and waterway it can be shown, that inland navi-gation with the current utilization will be cheaper compared to truck transport for typical import, ex-port and transit distances exceeding 500 to 800 km. However, compared to rail transport the competition is closer depending on the type of goods and proximity to the mode of transport. Currently, inland navigation has slight advantages over rail in a catchment area of 50 to 200 km around the river Danube, but faces a number of challenges.
Without considerable and concerted efforts lead-ing to substantial improvements and new invest-ments in this mode of transport both from the side of waterway authorities and the transport industry the actual development will be far off from overly opti-mistic projections advertised in numerous papers. In-stead, there will be short to medium term stagnation followed by sharp decline at the time when current equipment and structures need to be replaced.
With the presented holistic multidisciplinary ap-proach for maintenance, rehabilitation and replace-ment of waterway assets based on a comprehensive life cycle costing approach it is possible to address the issues of harmonized and effective investment strategies in a high availability of the waterway Danube. The presented transport cost framework sets a basis for a sound assessment of possible impacts of improved fairway conditions on market situation and further development compared to other modes of transport
Derivation of budget requirements for different levels of fairway quality based on harmonized maintenance strategies for inland waterways
No full text
