Trenchless Technology

Over the past ten years, a new group of construction methods, known as trenchless technologies, have gained wide spread acceptance in most of the industrialized countries in the world. Trenchless technologies includes a large family of methods utilized for the installation and rehabilitation of underground utility systems with minimal surface disruption and destruction resulting from open cut excavation. Utility systems in the underground include: water and wastewater distribution systems; gas, petroleum and chemical pipelines; electrical and communications networks; access ways; and other small diameter tunnels used for a variety of applications. Trenchless methods have also been used to solve complex underground transportation and environmental contamination problems. Typical methods of construction included microtunneling, horizontal directional drilling, pipe jacking, pipe relining and manhole reconstruction techniques.

Current research activities are focussed on the development of a better understanding of how plastic (polyethylene) pipes behave during subsurface installation by horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and the development of a new non destructive method for assessing the condition of existing underground infrastructure.

Research Projects: