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Construcciones Mineras (PROYECTO) PDF
Construcciones Mineras (PROYECTO) PDF
16
Arild Neby
Thomas K. Mathiesen
INTRODUCTION
The Kvitebjørn gas and condensate field lies in block
34/11, east of Gullfaks in the Norwegian North Sea,
operated by Statoil. Production from Kvitebjørn began Oil Pipeline (KOR
in 2004. Rich gas and condensate (light oil) from
Kvitebjørn are piped to Kollsnes near Bergen and
Mongstad further north respectively.
Rich gas from Kvitebjørn is piped in the 147 km long Gas Pipeline (KGR)
OD 30’’ (Ø762 mm) Kvitebjørn Rich Gas Pipeline
(KGR) to the process plant at Kollsnes (see Figure 1).
After processing at Kollsnes, the dry gas is piped to
continental Europe. The separated NGL is transported
by pipeline to the Vestprosess plant at Mongstad for Figure 1: Map showing Kvitebjørn Pipelines
fractionation into propane, butanes and naphtha. (Illustration: Statoil)
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CONCEPTUAL DESIGN ISSUES The main challenge, as civil works were concerned,
At the conceptual design stage the different landfall was the establishment of the landfall borehole or drill
solutions were not described in detail, only the prin- and blast tunnel. The other parts of the landfall involved
ciples of the landfall design. The chosen alternative only ordinary civil work tasks. By using well known
consisted of a borehole from the sea to Storholmen and technology, careful prequalification procedures of con-
an onshore trench at Storholmen and crossing of the tractors for drilling of the borehole (or excavation of the
Njupselsundet strait (See Figure 1). tunnel) and focus on the design solutions, the construc-
tion of the borehole (or the tunnel) was at this stage
considered also to be well within a safe execution.
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DETAIL DESIGN
Design Basis
The basis for the landfall tunnel solution is as listed
below:
• Tunnel data:
Length approximately 400 m. Slope 1:6.
Water filled during pull-in.
• Pipeline data:
ID : 710 mm, wall thickness: 28,7 mm
Coating : 6 mm asphalt enamel and 50 mm
concrete weight coating
OD incl. coating : 880 mm
• Level of piercing point shall be between 2.5 and 4.5 m
above sea bottom which is situated at approximately
-68 m depth. Figure 3: Long joints belonging to set 1 intersecting the rock
masses. Some sub-horizontal foliation joints can also be
Geological Conditions seen. (Photo: Statoil / Norconsult)
The geological conditions for the project was based on
surface mapping on the island “Storholmen” and on
information gathered from core drilling. Although a sig-
nificant part of the tunnel, as well as the piercing point,
was under the seabed outside Storholmen, the geology
of the area was generally expected to correspond well
with that which was observed / mapped. However, the
joint orientations were expected to vary to some extent,
due to folding and faulting.
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The foliation of the gneiss strikes generally NE-SW Locally, the joints in sets 2 and 3 have only 0.02 - 0.2 m
with a gentle dip (0° - 15°) towards SE. Joints along spacing forming joint zones. The width of such zones is
the foliation form the main joint set 1 with joint spacing most often 0.2 - 3 m. In some zones the spacing between
mainly between 0.2 and 2 metres. the joints is so short that the zone may have the charac-
ter of a crushed zone.
The two other joint sets are steep-dipping and occur
approximately normal to joint set 1. The identified weakness zones generally follow the
direction of the two steep-dipping joint sets.
Set 2 with strike/dip = 140 - 170°/80 - 90º E, joint
spacing 0.3 - 3 m, and Generally the geological conditions were found to be
Set 3 having strike/dip = 30 - 50º /90º and joint spacing relatively good, and hence, favourable for a sub-sea
0.2 - 3 m. tunnel. Uncertainty regarding permeability of the rock
mass, especially in the piercing area, was to be given
The joints occur unevenly distributed, in some areas special attention during construction phase. Thorough
only one joint set occurs, in others all three sets. In gen- and continuous routines for exploratory drilling and
eral, the joints divide the rocks into blocks, which vary grouting, throughout the entire excavation period of the
between 0.1 m³ and 3 m³. Most joints have rough joint landfall tunnel as well as at the piercing itself, were a
surface with slightly undulating joint planes. prerequisite.
Figure 5: Engineering geological map showing pipeline route and location of core-drilled hole. (Illustration: Norconsult)
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Figure 6: Stereographic pole-plot from joint mapping at Storholmen. The different poles are denoted as follows: F = foliation;
J = joint sets; W = weakness zones/faults. The great circles illustrate the average strike and dip of the three main joint sets.
(Illustration: Norconsult)
LANDFALL TUNNEL DESIGN decline was possible but not found to be beneficial to
Tunnel longitudinal section the project.
The topography dictates the geometrical constraints According to refraction seismic surveys performed in
for tunnel alignment. As the location of the piercing 1990, the rock mass in the area of the sub-sea tunnel is
point must be aligned with the pipeline in the tunnel generally good. However, the maximum rock overbur-
and the piercing point has to be just above the sea bot- den in the sub-sea part of the tunnel is about 26 m, and
tom sediments, as well as the tunnel should start at an a significant length of the tunnel will be excavated with
elevation safe from spring tide sea level, - the straight rock overburden less than 15 m, see Figure 7. This is
line between these geometrical “fix points” has a grade less than a normally used criterion for sub-sea tunnel-
approximately 1:6. Excavating the tunnel at a steeper ling.
Figure 7: Longitudinal section and plan of landfall tunnel. (Illustration: Statoil / Norconsult)
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Rock Support
Due to the small cross-section of the tunnel and the
good geological conditions (rock mass quality, water
ingress, stress etc.), the tunnel is mostly unsupported.
Systematic manual scaling after each blast round took
care of the safety aspect and reduced the need of tempo-
rary support to a minimum.
REFERENCES
Figure 9: Installed rock support in the tunnel entrance open 1. Norconsult Report (26 September 2001):
cut area. (Photo illustration: Norconsult) “Kvitebjørn Rich Gas Project, Kollsnes
Landfall - Civil Engineering, Conceptual Design
• 101 bolts are installed throughout the tunnel mostly in Review”, Project No. 3505000, 8 pages
the roof and northern wall. The bolts are 2.4 - 3.0 m
long, Ø20 mm, galvanised and end-anchored with 2. Norconsult Report (19 November 2001):
polyester resin. 2 m of galvanised steel band has been “Kvitebjørn Gas Pipeline, Kollsnes Landfall - Civil
applied. The Client’s project engaged engineering Engineering, Geological Evaluation Report”, Project
geologist has marked out in detail all bolts installed on No. 3505000, 9 pages
tunnel mapping sheets.
3. Norconsult Report (19 December 2001):
• No shotcrete was applied in the tunnel. “Kvitebjørn Rich Gas Pipeline, Kollsnes Landfall - Civil
Engineering, Underwater Tunnel Piercing Feasibility
Rock Mass Conditions Report”, Project No. 3505000, 14 pages
The tunnel construction work was performed without
any major difficulties. The only few halts were caused 4. Statoil Presentation (2002):
by breakdown of machines and pumps. “Sammenligning borehull - sprengt tunnel”, 8 pages (in
Norwegian)
The most challenging area due to geological conditions
was found over a 20 m long distance between chainage 5. Norconsult Report (6 January 2003):
275 m and 295 m, caused by 3-4 densely jointed distinct “Kvitebjørn Rich Gas Pipeline, Kollsnes Landfall -
zones with clay, silt and crushed rock mass spaced some Civil Engineering, As-Built Documentation Geology”,
4-5 m apart. The excavation in this area was performed Project No. 3505000, 6 pages + Appendices 12 pages
by shorter rounds, 2 - 2.5 m long and thorough scaling
of the roof and walls of the tunnel. 6. NCC Construction Report (27 August 2003):
“Erfaringsoverføringsrapport - Kvitebjørn
landfall, Kollsnes”, Contract No. 4500434160, 13 pages
(in Norwegian)
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