User:Okanaganopolis/Wood Lagging (as pipeline protection)

New article name is Wood Lagging (as Pipeline Protection)

Wood Lagging is a method and material solution often employed in the "Padding and Backfill" stage of pipeline construction.

Wood Lagging is a blanket-like membrane of "wired together" wooden slats, laid around and then tightly banded to an oil and gas transmission pipleine.

Wood Lagging provides mechanical protection from construction backfill for both impact and abrasion.

Wood Lagging is one of several solutions in the "tool box" of options that are employed (often in combination) when pipeline engineers consider the cost/benefit analysis of their design requirements; based on location of the project, access to natural material for padding, type of soil and rock conditions in the right of way, and access, slope and steepness conditions, including: concrete coating, rockshield, Pipe Applied HDPE, sand padding, padding machines to name several. when bolt-on weights are chosen in addressing buoyancy control for pipe that is routed through swampy or high water table conditions, Wood Lagging provides the role of both pipe protection and acts as spacers between the weights.

To all these considerations, the Pipeline Designer applies their criteria and makes their Padding and Backfill design selection.

In dig-ups of 50+ year old pipelines, intact wood lagging is sometimes discovered to be performing its function. One of the first major pipelines across the Canadian rockies, the Trans-Mountain Pipeline, used wood lagging through the treacherous Coquihalla canyon in BC. There is archival film footage showing wood lagging as the mechanical protection in the canyon section. The rugged terrain made the Trans-Mountain line an extraordinary engineering accomplishment. It crossed the Rockies, the mountains of central British Columbia, and 98 streams and rivers.

In 2000 the BC Gas Southern Crossing Pipeline, from Oliver, BC to Yahk BC used wood lagging for approx 22 km of the 315km pipeline route. Employing Wood Lagging was a field decision and was proposed as an alternative by the owners' General Contractor, Marine Pipeline of Canada, when the original padding and backfill design and plan proved to be insufficient for time and cost of construction. Wood Lagging was able to be produced in a very short timeframe, which was a feature of its simple design and flexibility to the realtime challenge without benefit of normal order cycle times.

In 2007, the Kinder Morgan TMX Anchor Loop transversed Jasper National Park in Alberta and used extensive wood lagging as part of the construction through environmentally sensitive terrain and many river crossings where robustness of design was prized.

Wood Lagging's charateristcs are: it is made from renewable resources, creates a carbon sequestration effect after pipeline burial, light and flexible in construction installation, offers high impact resistance. offers characterisitcs which are desirable in specific sites and projects. Simple and quickly produceable when called for on short notice. Considerably cheaper than equivalent impact protection levels vs. concrete coating solution.