Network rehabilitation by pipe lining
The Ortec Group is a specialist in the sanitation sector, providing preventive and corrective maintenance for all types of networks and offering its expertise in pipe renovation to local authorities, industrial companies, landlords and SMEs.
Expectations are high, given that it is estimated that the average age of networks in France will reach 50 years by 2023, whereas the average lifespan of a properly installed network is 40 years.
Faced with the risk of additional costs due to the networks’ obsolescence, their rapid and safe renewal presents a major challenge.
To limit delays, costs, disruptions to road surfaces and environmental impacts, Ortec teams have been using a trenchless pipe renovation technique called pipe lining for several years now.
The challenge of pipeline renovation
Just like traditional technologies, pipe lining is used to renovate pipelines that have undergone all kinds of damage and deterioration such as abrasion, corrosion, infiltration, exfiltration, root penetration, structural defects, and assembly faults.
What is the advantage of pipe lining?
This method restores the technical specifications of a network, including mechanical strength, waterproofing, and internal coating, without the need for trench excavation.
In practice, pipe lining involves inserting a liner impregnated with epoxy resin between two manholes, then curing it under steam pressure to rehabilitate the entire section from the inside. Prior to the process, a camera inspection of the pipes to be treated identifies the nature of the damage and the repairs to be carried out.
Benefits of pipe lining
Pipe lining rehabilitation projects are 25% less expensive than traditional replacement works. The manhole-to-manhole approach means that most surface elements (buildings, roads, railroads, etc.) do not have to be taken into account in the site survey.
Pipe lining projects have a reduced carbon footprint compared to traditional replacement works. There’s no need for an input or extract of backfill, no need to use a lot of mechanical site equipment (excavation and soil removal), and no need to organize an on-site traffic plan.
Rehabilitating a pipeline section through pipe lining typically takes around 7 hours, as the work area is limited to manholes. Regarding network operation, waste water is stored or bypassed during the works, allowing for immediate service restoration as soon as the renovation process is completed.
The impact of pipe lining works on traffic is limited. There is no risk of damaging buried pipelines and occupational hazards (collapses, network crossings, etc.) are reduced. The reduction in the number of workers and their exposure time also limits the risk of accidents due to co-activity.
Ortec's expertise
Since the early 2010s, the Ortec Group has focused on its expertise in sanitation and its ability to use innovative techniques to carry out the pipe lining projects. The combination of these two factors allows the Group to offer real advantages to the clients.
- Comprehensive turnkey solutions for compliance planning (analysis, consultancy, works, regulatory support)
- Teams available nationwide
- Business synergy with a single point of contact, from cleaning to rehabilitation and the final acceptance
Each year, a total of about 30 kilometers of pipelines is rehabilitated using various methods, covering a range of 75 to 1000 millimeters in nominal diameter.
A wide range of technical solutions
Pipe lining techniques encompass a defined set of non-destructive services developed by Ortec to maintain the integrity of structures.
Video inspection for network assessment
Video examination identifies structural and functional defects in a sanitation network or wastewater treatment facility (leaks, blockages, subsidence, etc.). It allows for analysis and timely actions, even in urgent situations.
Automated milling
A robot equipped with a pneumatic milling head and controlled from a computer system set up inside a light vehicle is inserted into the pipeline. The operation removes deposits (cement, limestone, roots). The milling shoe is also used to reopen the connections after the lining process.
Spot rehabilitation
This type of service is carried out when the intervention is local. In this case, partial lining is performed to repair a section of the pipeline.
Masonry work
These works ensure the compliance of manholes and network-related structures both structurally and in terms of waterproofing.
Assembly and Compliance Documentation
Once the pipe lining operations are completed, Ortec experts carry out a self-check of the networks. The results are reported in a document and delivered to the contracting authority. This allows to issue the network quality certificate guaranteed by watertightness tests, camera inspection of assembly quality and remote visual inspection.
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Our references
Several kilometers of lining at the ITER site
Various pipe lining operations at the Cadarache experimental site hosting the international nuclear fusion reactor project based in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance.
Interventions on power generation sites
Lining rehabilitation of networks at various power plants and dams of a national electricity production company.
Rehabilitation campaign for refinery networks
Three-year liner rehabilitation project at a refinery in the Etang de Berre region, working in synergy with various specialist departments (ITV diagnostics, recommendations, high-pressure cleaning, mechanical preparation, trenchless rehabilitation, file reception and documentation).