Dynamic pipe ramming with horizontal rammers from TRACTO offers a very economical solution for passing under traffic ways, railway tracks, buildings, nature reserves and waterways. This is especially true when structural obstacles or environmental protection requirements prevent the realisation of large dimension pipelines or pipeline construction, and the project can only be realised in an environmentally friendly manner using the NODIG construction method. The ramming method is also used in other applications such as tunnelling or to support HDD drilling.
The growing global demand for energy requires ever more reliable pipeline networks, and the need to rehabilitate existing pipeline and sewer systems remains high. To protect the environment and the climate, their construction must be increasingly environmentally friendly for flora and fauna, so that for more and more construction projects there is no alternative to trenchless technology.
Many decision-makers in utilities and local authorities have long been aware of the environmental and economic benefits of trenchless pipe-laying compared to conventional open-trench methods: These include significantly less disruption to the environment and infrastructure due to less excavation and restoration work, resulting in significantly shorter construction times, significantly lower construction costs and significantly reduced CO2 emissions. It also avoids traffic congestion and diversions, minimising the impact on everyone involved in and living near construction projects.
GRUNDORAM models ensure fast installation of large diameter pipes
For this application TRACTO offers the GRUNDORAM series of very robust, air-driven horizontal rams, the most common application of which is dynamic pipe ramming. For the installation of steel pipes as media or protective pipes up to DN 4,000, the air-driven ram crosses the ground horizontally with a high impact energy of up to 40,500 Nm. During the ramming operation, the soil is collected in the steel pipe, which is open at the front, so that obstacles do not have to be moved or pushed in front of the pipe rammer. For this reason, despite the immense impact forces, dynamic pipe ramming is very low in vibration, which is why Deutsche Bahn and many road contractors rely on this method for driving under railway lines and motorways.
Dynamic pipe ramming works reliably and accurately because the GRUNDORAM is directly connected to the pipe to be installed using an add-on cone and is axially aligned behind the steel pipe. During driving, the impact energy is transferred directly onto the casing. The soil gathered inside the pipe can be partially discharged during the ramming process via a soil removal adapter and then flushed out or excavated with compressed air and/or water.
Robust design - short set-up times - no downtime
The rammer itself can withstand the high forces it is subjected to because it is made up of just three high quality components: The forged one-piece casing has no seams or weak points, the impact piston has undergone a complex quality and hardening process and the robust control stud is fitted with various seals and sliding rings to minimise the mnachine’s air consumption. Set-up times are kept to a minimum as no press abutment is required for pipe ramming with GRUNDORAM. Ramming speeds of up to 10 metres per hour are possible, depending on the type of soil.
In addition to the construction of pipelines and sewers, ramming machines are used for building tunnels, underpasses and drainage systems. Rammers are also often used to successfully complete complicated drilling operations: These so-called HDD Assist & Rescue methods can be applied, for example, to support pipe pulling with dynamic impact force, to loosen stuck drill rods or to ram casing pipes for HDD bores through non-drillable soils.
Pipeline construction with TRACTO pipe rammers all over the world
In recent decades, numerous supply pipelines have been installed with the help of TRACTO rammers, e.g. in the 2010s the NEL pipeline near Perdöhl, approx. 80 km from Hamburg, which fulfils an important distribution function. The Dutch company Dalcai was commissioned by several gas companies to use the world’s biggest ramming machine APOLLO to construct a 60 km section of 1420 x 22.7 mm steel pipe, including several crossings under roads and old avenues.
In Poland, too, a major investment programme to extend the natural gas pipeline network required the crossing of a number of roads and watercourses, for example to the north-west of the district town of Krosno. Here, TRACTO's second largest rammer, the TAURUS, was used to cross under a road more than 16 metres wide with verges and a drainage ditch. The contractor, PHU MOLROG from Zlotorya, had to deal with a very difficult soil of hard, compact clay with large stones and rocky sections when ramming the 1,016 mm diameter steel pipe. However, thanks to the company's extensive experience with dynamic pipe ramming, the high impact energy of the ramming machine and the use of a supporting cutting shoe, the total distance of 33 metres was completed in 22 hours.
Building drainage systems with dynamic pipe ramming
In order to connect a new drainage system, a steel pipe with a diameter of 2,200 mm was installed under the A7 motorway near Ulm-Elchingen in Germany over a length of 40 metres while traffic kept flowing. Here too, contractor Helmut Uhrig company experienced in horizontal directional drilling, chose APOLLO. The engineering office’s project manager in charge, Thomas Sauter was very satisfied with the implementation: 'The project was not only successfully completed on schedule, but also resulted in a minimal settlement of the motorway of only 15 mm, whereas experts had expected 4 to 7 cm - this saved around €250,000 in motorway repair costs thanks to the low-vibration tunnelling method.
HDD support for crossing the Moselle
In Pont-à-Mousson, the district heating network in place since 2016 was to be extended by a further 10 kilometres on the other side of the river, which meant that the Moselle had to be crossed. To enable Groupe Gendry to carry out the 300-metre-long HDD bore, the GRUNDORAM provided initial assistance: as the soft ground on the river bank is not suitable for drilling, the contractor, Forages du Nord-Ouest, used its GRUNDORAM GOLIATH to ram a 30-metre-long casing pipe at an angle of 30 degrees on each side of the river bank, through which the directional bore with an 80-tonne drill rig could enter and exit.
Using a GOLIATH rammer, which has lost none of its 18,600 Nm impact force in 12 years of service, the two casings, in the form of two spirally welded 12.5 mm thick DN 1,220 mm steel pipes, were driven in at a remarkable rate of 20 metres per hour. The actual installation of the district heating pipeline 40 metres below the water level was completed on schedule shortly afterwards.
Pipe ramming: efficient and versatile for large diameters
Dynamic pipe ramming using TRACTO's GRUNDORAM technology not only enables large-diameter pipeline projects to be carried out economically, with little impact on the environment and thus in a climate-friendly manner, but also enables sewers, tunnels and wells to be constructed and complex HDD drilling to be supported. It can also be used in very sensitive environments, as it causes very little vibration and settlement of surfaces such as railway tracks or motorways.
The growing global demand for energy requires ever more reliable pipeline networks, and the need to rehabilitate existing pipeline and sewer systems remains high. To protect the environment and the climate, their construction must be increasingly environmentally friendly for flora and fauna, so that for more and more construction projects there is no alternative to trenchless technology.
Many decision-makers in utilities and local authorities have long been aware of the environmental and economic benefits of trenchless pipe-laying compared to conventional open-trench methods: These include significantly less disruption to the environment and infrastructure due to less excavation and restoration work, resulting in significantly shorter construction times, significantly lower construction costs and significantly reduced CO2 emissions. It also avoids traffic congestion and diversions, minimising the impact on everyone involved in and living near construction projects.
GRUNDORAM models ensure fast installation of large diameter pipes
For this application TRACTO offers the GRUNDORAM series of very robust, air-driven horizontal rams, the most common application of which is dynamic pipe ramming. For the installation of steel pipes as media or protective pipes up to DN 4,000, the air-driven ram crosses the ground horizontally with a high impact energy of up to 40,500 Nm. During the ramming operation, the soil is collected in the steel pipe, which is open at the front, so that obstacles do not have to be moved or pushed in front of the pipe rammer. For this reason, despite the immense impact forces, dynamic pipe ramming is very low in vibration, which is why Deutsche Bahn and many road contractors rely on this method for driving under railway lines and motorways.
Dynamic pipe ramming works reliably and accurately because the GRUNDORAM is directly connected to the pipe to be installed using an add-on cone and is axially aligned behind the steel pipe. During driving, the impact energy is transferred directly onto the casing. The soil gathered inside the pipe can be partially discharged during the ramming process via a soil removal adapter and then flushed out or excavated with compressed air and/or water.
Robust design - short set-up times - no downtime
The rammer itself can withstand the high forces it is subjected to because it is made up of just three high quality components: The forged one-piece casing has no seams or weak points, the impact piston has undergone a complex quality and hardening process and the robust control stud is fitted with various seals and sliding rings to minimise the mnachine’s air consumption. Set-up times are kept to a minimum as no press abutment is required for pipe ramming with GRUNDORAM. Ramming speeds of up to 10 metres per hour are possible, depending on the type of soil.
In addition to the construction of pipelines and sewers, ramming machines are used for building tunnels, underpasses and drainage systems. Rammers are also often used to successfully complete complicated drilling operations: These so-called HDD Assist & Rescue methods can be applied, for example, to support pipe pulling with dynamic impact force, to loosen stuck drill rods or to ram casing pipes for HDD bores through non-drillable soils.
Pipeline construction with TRACTO pipe rammers all over the world
In recent decades, numerous supply pipelines have been installed with the help of TRACTO rammers, e.g. in the 2010s the NEL pipeline near Perdöhl, approx. 80 km from Hamburg, which fulfils an important distribution function. The Dutch company Dalcai was commissioned by several gas companies to use the world’s biggest ramming machine APOLLO to construct a 60 km section of 1420 x 22.7 mm steel pipe, including several crossings under roads and old avenues.
In Poland, too, a major investment programme to extend the natural gas pipeline network required the crossing of a number of roads and watercourses, for example to the north-west of the district town of Krosno. Here, TRACTO's second largest rammer, the TAURUS, was used to cross under a road more than 16 metres wide with verges and a drainage ditch. The contractor, PHU MOLROG from Zlotorya, had to deal with a very difficult soil of hard, compact clay with large stones and rocky sections when ramming the 1,016 mm diameter steel pipe. However, thanks to the company's extensive experience with dynamic pipe ramming, the high impact energy of the ramming machine and the use of a supporting cutting shoe, the total distance of 33 metres was completed in 22 hours.
Building drainage systems with dynamic pipe ramming
In order to connect a new drainage system, a steel pipe with a diameter of 2,200 mm was installed under the A7 motorway near Ulm-Elchingen in Germany over a length of 40 metres while traffic kept flowing. Here too, contractor Helmut Uhrig company experienced in horizontal directional drilling, chose APOLLO. The engineering office’s project manager in charge, Thomas Sauter was very satisfied with the implementation: 'The project was not only successfully completed on schedule, but also resulted in a minimal settlement of the motorway of only 15 mm, whereas experts had expected 4 to 7 cm - this saved around €250,000 in motorway repair costs thanks to the low-vibration tunnelling method.
HDD support for crossing the Moselle
In Pont-à-Mousson, the district heating network in place since 2016 was to be extended by a further 10 kilometres on the other side of the river, which meant that the Moselle had to be crossed. To enable Groupe Gendry to carry out the 300-metre-long HDD bore, the GRUNDORAM provided initial assistance: as the soft ground on the river bank is not suitable for drilling, the contractor, Forages du Nord-Ouest, used its GRUNDORAM GOLIATH to ram a 30-metre-long casing pipe at an angle of 30 degrees on each side of the river bank, through which the directional bore with an 80-tonne drill rig could enter and exit.
Using a GOLIATH rammer, which has lost none of its 18,600 Nm impact force in 12 years of service, the two casings, in the form of two spirally welded 12.5 mm thick DN 1,220 mm steel pipes, were driven in at a remarkable rate of 20 metres per hour. The actual installation of the district heating pipeline 40 metres below the water level was completed on schedule shortly afterwards.
Pipe ramming: efficient and versatile for large diameters
Dynamic pipe ramming using TRACTO's GRUNDORAM technology not only enables large-diameter pipeline projects to be carried out economically, with little impact on the environment and thus in a climate-friendly manner, but also enables sewers, tunnels and wells to be constructed and complex HDD drilling to be supported. It can also be used in very sensitive environments, as it causes very little vibration and settlement of surfaces such as railway tracks or motorways.
