Development of Detailed Right of Way Quantities and Footprint for Pipelines

Abstract

The design and construction planning of pipelines is a multidisciplinary effort that requires support and input from geotechnical, geomatics and pipeline construction specialists. The cooperation between those disciplines is more pronounced and required when the pipeline traverses rugged mountainous areas with challenging settings. This paper begins by considering the range of topographic, geological, construction and other route datasets and how they are generated. A presentation of an application that has been developed and utilizes progressively improving route datasets as projects advance to generate Right-of-Way (ROW) footprint and detailed construction quantities such as granular excavation volumes, supply and demand quantities and cross-section details is introduced. An overview of construction details including construction direction, seasonality, and ROW profile is then offered. In addition, several analytical methods are available for deployment, each being suited for various stages of a project’s development. These analytical methods include advanced workbooks and GIS Enabled Applications that leverages DTM information as well as commercially available packages. A discussion of these methods is presented together with suggested guidelines as to when to apply them in a proposed project’s phase. Finally, lessons learnt from the experiences gained in several major projects are summarized.