| Project Detail |
Legacy pipe malfunctions create operating risk and legal liability for utilities, negatively impact system owners’ financial performance, and are costly to gas consumers. Today, repairing legacy pipes involves excavating and replacing them, typically with high-density polyethylene pipe. Replacement costs range from $1-10 million per mile, depending on the pipe’s location (rural vs. urban), complexity of the excavation, and costs for restoring roads. Utilities also incur costs whenever gas service is disrupted for repairs. REPAIR seeks to eliminate the highest cost components, excavation and restoration, by rehabilitating pipes without their removal—in essence, by automatically constructing a new pipe within the old.
Project Innovation + Advantages:
More than 60,000 miles of cast iron and bare steel gas distribution pipelines are still in service. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and its partners will develop a cost-effective and efficient smart structural coating deposition system and advanced high-end technology tools to inspect and rehabilitate gas distribution pipelines. The team will build on ORNL’s success in developing low-cost carbon fibers, composites, smart polymer materials, and non-destructive evaluation methods by leveraging the expertise of partners on coating deposition and robotic inspection tools for smart repair of gas pipes. The polymer composite coating materials provide structural strength and facile processability with smart functionalities. Integrated robotic technologies for coating deposition and non-destructive multiscale interrogation of the pipe enable delivery of the complete solution.
Potential Impact:
If successful, ORNL’s solution would eliminate the highest pipe rehabilitation costs, excavation and restoration, by repairing pipes without their removal. |
