The new S-bend welding technology of Pipeline Bureau No. 4 Company fills the domestic gap
On August 26, good news came from the site of the China-Russia East Line Yangtze River Shield Pipeline Installation Project undertaken by the Fourth Company of the Pipeline Bureau. The three S-shaped bends in the starting well of the project have successively completed welding, AUT and RT double inspection, and anti-corrosion patching operations. This also marks that the new technologies such as the lifting of super-large-caliber "S"-shaped bends and the application of fully automatic welding processes in the project have filled the domestic gap.
The Yangtze River Shield Pipeline Installation Project of the China-Russia East Line Natural Gas Pipeline is located between the Haimen Economic and Technological Development Zone in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province and the Changshu Economic and Technological Development Zone. It is the throat of natural gas from Russia entering Shanghai. The tunnel has an inner diameter of 6.8 meters and a horizontal length of 10.226 kilometers. Three X80M high-grade steel natural gas pipelines with a diameter of 1422 mm and a wall thickness of 32.1 mm are laid in an inverted T-shaped shape. The project is also the pipeline project of the "longest tunnel of the Yangtze River", and is also known as the "ceiling" project in the world's oil and gas pipeline field.
In order to complete the construction task with high quality, the project department of Pipeline Company No. 4 made a comprehensive construction plan and reversed the construction schedule. In response to various construction difficulties, it carried out a series of research projects and technological innovations, such as the gantry hoist in the tunnel, the ground assembly line transmission system, and the transformation of high-precision pipe bending machines. It also "tailored" more than 50 sets of special equipment, facilities and tools to ensure that the welding of the three pipelines in the tunnel was completed ahead of schedule. Before the S-shaped bend pipe was hoisted in the shaft, the project department studied the construction plan in advance and organized industry experts to review it. The construction process strictly implemented the system standards, comprehensively strengthened quality and safety control, and implemented dynamic risk identification and evaluation, perfectly solving the problem of hoisting and positioning large-diameter pipelines in the narrow space of the shaft and fully automatic welding, while ensuring the quality and efficiency of pipeline welding without destroying the load-bearing structure of the shaft ground wall.
After the project is completed and put into production, it will become the longest, deepest, and most complex pipeline installation project in the world's oil and gas field through the river shield tunnel. The China-Russia East Line Yangtze River Shield Pipeline Installation Project is a milestone in the history of my country's oil and gas pipeline construction. It not only comprehensively promotes the industrial upgrading of domestic long-distance oil and gas pipeline construction technology and equipment manufacturing, but also plays a major demonstration and leading role in the future of oil and gas pipelines crossing special areas such as rivers, lakes, seas, cities and mountains.
