The engineering of infrastructure is ever-changing. Line sections are downsized or abandoned and re-routed. Flowable fill is an economical and reliable solution when faced with these issues. We have seen various flowable fill mixes in each county and town, but the most common flowable fill has yields with a compressive strength of 125 psi at 28 days. Flowable fill with flyash is the most popular, but due to larger restrictions from the government, SPS has noticed a decline in use. Instead, the industry is turning to foam balls or plastic balls to keep the concrete flowable.
First, SPS builds bulkheads of brick at each end of the pipe, with a 2-inch diameter fill and vent line to pump the concrete mix into. Once the concrete is shown to come out of the vent line we know the entire line section is fully abandoned. At this point, the abandonment or pipe diameter reduction is complete.
The only difference one may see when installing a smaller diameter pipe is the flowable fill must be guided in a way that does not affect the invert of the pipe. It’s best to center the pipe in the line section prior to pumping with flowable fill. Another option is filling the new smaller diameter line section with water prior to the flowable fill process. Filling it with water keeps the line section weighed down as the flowable fill pumping process is performed.
The number of bulkheads have a large impact on the amount of flowable fill that is pumped in one day. Standard Pipe Services also uses Cellular Concrete as a form of flowable fill as an alternative option.
Standard Pipe Services (SPS) implements trenchless technology for all pipe rehabilitations. Pipe rehabilitation is the repairing or replacement of the underground network of sewer and water pipelines. To quote or blog on trenchless technology:
Trenchless Technology incorporates several pipe rehabilitation methods with little to no digging and is eco-friendly. It is, as it sounds, ‘trenchless’. Trenchless technologies offer quick, cost-effective solutions for repairing or replacing pipes and manholes while featuring non-disruptive strategies.
By cost-effective, trenchless doesn’t save pennies – it is about HALF the cost of digging up lines under the pavement or surface. Before trenchless technology, you would have to replace more of your sidewalk, driveway, decorative pavers, or cobblestone. Trenchless is a considerable money saving. Most trenchless repairs take one day and a few workers. But this is not every case. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you. You may also find helpful answers in our Blog or FAQ.
