Webinar: 2025 No-Dig Show Outstanding Paper: New Installations
Join Us for Free Trenchless Education for NASTT Members!
Back by popular demand! NASTT is excited to present an encore of the 2025 No-Dig Show Outstanding New Installations Paper:
Innovations and Lessons Learned from a World Record Length, Large Diameter Subaqueous HDD Crossing Project in Southeastern Virginia
Check out the abstract below and be sure to join us for this special presentation!
A new world record for 42-inch HDPE IPS DR11 subaqueous pipe installation approximately 5,700 linear feet was recently achieved in the James River in Southeastern Virginia. The crossing was part of the James River Crossing (JRX) project to install over four miles of force main across the river including the trenchless component beneath the Newport News Ship Channel, a heavily trafficked commercial and naval vessel maritime channel. Due to the challenging onsite conditions and workspace constraints, the Project Team focused on risk mitigation and utilized numerous innovations in the HDD design and pipe installation to ensure success. Geotechnical data indicated the river is underlain by geologically recent, weak sediments characterized by low strengths and unit weights. Therefore, the HDD was designed with the drill path over 100 feet below the river mudline with extended steel surface casings, and the pilot hole geometry designed using the intersect method to minimize annular pressures and reduce the risk of inadvertent returns (IR’s). Field operations also contributed to the project’s success. Despite occasionally adverse weather conditions, these included 24-hour marine operations, careful monitoring and maintenance of low borehole mud weights, staging the entire pre-fused pipe string floating within the river to reduce stoppages, optimizing pipe buoyancy, and employing a plastic pipe pusher built in Germany to reduce tensile loads during pipe pullback. This paper discusses conditions onsite, how the design was modified for those conditions, and innovations that allowed the pipe to be successfully installed with no health, safety, or environmental incidents.
Date & Time: January 21, 12:00 – 1:00 PM (Eastern)
Location: Virtual webinar format
Cost: FREE for NASTT Members | Non-Member Cost is $35.00
Registration includes the presentation slides, a copy of the complete technical paper, and CEUs provided by Louisiana Tech.
Paper Authors: Dave Sackett, PG, Brierley Associates; Jim Williams, PE, Brierley Associates; Greg Horn, Huxted Trenchless; Paul Longo, Dewberry Engineers; and Mark Peters, Garney Construction
Contact:
Kari Webb
kwebb@nastt.org
888-388-2554
