Ahead of the Curve: Tampa Bay Water Proactively Develops its Asset Management Program

摘要

Tampa Bay Water (TBW) owns and operates over 200 production wells and approximately 230 miles of large diameter water mains, servicing the needs of approximately 2.5 million people. With an average age of 40 years, each of their assets is entering a critical stage in their life-cycle. To gain the knowledge required to make the appropriate decisions regarding renewal of their aging infrastructure, TBW has utilized state of the art non-destructive technologies coupled with structural engineering performance assessments. In-line free-swimming technologies have taken a quick (two day) snapshot of the current condition of one of TBW’s 30 year old 42-, 48-, and 54-inch diameter prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) transmission mains. A multiinspection platform consisting of leak detection and electromagnetics identified distress located in approximately 0.5% of the transmission main. Structural evaluations were performed applying current AWWA standards that govern the design and performance of PCCP. Proprietary software was then utilized to create finite element models of the distressed pipe designs, applying internal pressure, earth loading conditions and the imminent failure criteria, broken prestressing wire wraps. Deploying non-invasive technologies and three dimensional structural modeling has allowed TBW to make informed decisions regarding the deteriorating one half of a percent of one of their largest assets. This paper discusses the proactive approach to pipeline asset management TBW has implemented that models the average life-cycle and performance of transmission mains. This asset management program has supported the extension of the serviceable life of critical infrastructure.