tracto GRUNDORAM works its magic for AMS Trenchless
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GRUNDORAM works its magic for AMS Trenchless

The company has long recognised the benefits of the GRUNDORAM horizontal rammer range from and over the last year has hired a number of different models to complete trenchless installation projects throughout the UK. One contract completed by the AMS team involved a trenchless crossing beneath an existing road for the installation of steel gas main in Costessey, Norfolk. Pipe ramming using the GRUMDORAM Gigant was chosen as the preferred method following a site review that indicated challenging geology, shallow cover depth and limited space. To install the steel tube the Gigant rammer had to impart percussive force of 2,860 Nm/joule to drive the open ended steel tube through the ground. Additional lengths of steel tube were then welded to the previous length to complete the crossing. Spoil left in the steel tube was removed by high pressure water jetting at the end of the job and remarkably the full installation was completed in just 5 shifts.

Another customer in Brighouse contracted AMS Trenchless to install 24 m of outfall pipework from an existing site to a headwall location on the banks of the River Calder. With the high risk of drilling fluid entering the river the option of HDD was discounted and the team instead opted for a pipe ram solution once again using the GRUNDORAM Gigant. Pipe ramming has the advantage of being a ’dry’ method guaranteeing zero pollution. An additional advantage of ramming on this job was the eventual location of the steel pipe to a dead end – without the need for a reception pit.

Further projects have subsequently been completed using GRUNDORAM Koloss, Goliath and Taurus pipe rammers. These included a casing pipe ram at Elvanfoot in Scotland to support unstable ground at the launch area of an HDD bore (a classical HDD-Assist technique, so called Conductor Barrel), the installation of a steel sleeve for electric cables under the East coast mainline at Stevenage station and landfall cable ducts for a windfarm in the North Sea.

Peter Guilliatt is the Operations Director at AMS Trenchless and is delighted at the success of the projects using the rammers from TRACTO-TECHNIK UK: “The GRUNDORAMs are really superior pieces of kit. Without doubt they have helped us to fulfil our contracts on time and within budget. They are ideal for jobs where the ground conditions are unstable or geologically difficult and have enabled us to offer viable solutions when we didn’t think our standard directional drilling or guided auger boring was the best solution.”