Record crossings with microtunneling
River crossing has always been a challenge in gas pipeline design and construction. Thanks to an even bigger attention to environmental aspects, engineers have been motivated to select new solutions with the purpose of avoiding excavations and solving essential problems in routing selection.
The project in particular was related to the Zimella-Poggiorenatico DN 1200 gas pipeline for the development of an importing line from Russia; main rivers to be crossed were Po, the biggest Italian river, and Adige.
Many studies have been carried out as geognostic surveys, hydraulic studies and laboratory tests: afterwards the most suitable solutions have been identified.
The peculiarity of this project was to design crossings through curvilinear microtunnel methodology, which would have been applied in Italy for the very first time: thanks to that the depth of launching and arrival pits has been slightly reduced as well as the steel pipeline insertion in the protection pipe, consisting of concrete cylinders of the microtunnel, was facilitated.
We won this dare together with Tre Colli SpA and Ludwig Freytag GmBH & Co.
