"The idea is to design a machine for an environmentally friendly pipeline method," says Andreas Diedrich, Herrenknecht project manager. Compared to the open-cut method, Pipe Express attempts to solve problems associated with ripping open the earth, and it requires less investment in expensive pipe-laying machines, he adds.
2. Deeper Foundations
In addition to new pipeline innovations, visitors in Bavaria will also have the chance to see machines that recently have broken records in deep foundations.
Soilmec SpA, the equipment arm of Trevi Group, will show pieces of its giant SC-200 hydromill, which last November drilled the ">world's deepest slurry wall, at 820 ft, during an experiment near the company headquarters in Cesena, Italy. Soilmec also will show the Cougar SC-100, the rig's little brother, at Bauma.
Using counter-rotating cutting teeth and plunging more than 325 ft below the depth of previous slurry walls, the hydromills aim to dig stronger cutoff walls, such as the work Trevi is performing for a $341.4-million contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remediate ">Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky.
"There are other dams that are suffering from the same seeping issue, but the projects are not started because there is no solution yet," says Federico Pagliacci, Soilmec's vice president of development. Soilmec hopes to clinch more projects using this relatively new technology, which its engineers say can routinely dig down to 500 ft, he adds.
3. Changing Tides
Geotechnical challenges remain not just on land but also at sea. Tidal power is a promising source of energy but is limited by the complexity and cost of installation, with turbines costing from $10 million to $40 million apiece. For tidal power to be viable, the cost must shrink below $1 million, experts say.
Drill-rig specialist Bauer has designed a 7.5-ft-wide machine that sockets turbine piers 36 ft into bedrock. "This is the only way something can be built on a large scale so that someone can afford it," says Paul Scheller, director of the German company's U.K.-based renewables unit.
Lowered from a boat, the GPS-guided seabed drill successfully installed a 75-ft-long, 6.5-ft-dia monopile in the North Sea near Scotland in 2011. As it waits for developers to line up financing, Bauer is "positive that we will sign two or three projects this year in Wales, Scotland and France," Scheller says.
