Hinged Movable Pipeline Support for Permafrost Soil Heaving
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pipeline supports in severe geological conditions, such as permafrost, face challenges with deformation due to soil heaving and uneven load distribution, leading to potential pipeline damage and maintenance difficulties, especially in sloping soils where traditional designs increase friction loads and lack adequate displacement constraints.
Innovation Solution
A movable pipeline support system featuring a semi-cylindrical cradle with stiffeners, detachable half-yokes, and a hinged tower base with anti-friction bushings and pads, allowing for uniform load distribution and displacement, along with a pilework table with hinged connections and a gap for soil heaving compensation, ensuring flexibility and corrosion resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional pipeline supports are used in sloping soils, then the support structure is simple, but the friction load on the pipeline increases and displacement constraints are inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure incorporates a movable component that can dynamically adjust its position along the pipeline axis. This movable support rolls along the pipeline rather than sliding, converting static friction into dynamic rolling motion with significantly reduced friction resistance. The movable support includes a support body with a rolling element that contacts the pipeline, allowing it to follow thermal expansion and contraction while maintaining minimal friction load.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the friction parameter by introducing a rolling mechanism instead of sliding contact. The rolling element (such as a wheel or roller) reduces the coefficient of friction from sliding friction to rolling friction, dramatically lowering the friction load on the pipeline. Additionally, the support geometry is designed with specific contact angles and surface properties to optimize the friction characteristics in sloping conditions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If adjustable height support with multiple connections is used, then the support can adapt to different positions, but the number of connections and fasteners increases making maintenance difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is divided into modular segments including a base plate, support body, and adjustable height mechanism. Each segment can be independently manufactured, assembled, and maintained. The segmentation allows the support to achieve height adjustability through modular stacking or telescopic sections rather than through multiple complex connections, reducing overall structural complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the essential function of height adjustment from a complex multi-connection system and implements it through a simplified mechanism. This may involve using a single adjustable leg with telescopic sections, a screw-jack mechanism, or a pinned connection system that provides height variability without requiring multiple fasteners and ties. The unnecessary connections are removed while preserving the core adaptability function.
3Reliability
If rigid connection between piles is used, then the support structure is stable, but the structure cannot accommodate soil heaving and may cause support failure
Solution Approach 1:
The connection between piles and the support structure is designed to be dynamic rather than rigidly fixed. This includes using pinned connections, hinge joints, or friction-based connections that allow relative movement between the piles and the support body. These dynamic connections maintain structural stability under normal conditions while accommodating vertical displacement caused by soil heaving or freezing, preventing support failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the connection parameter from rigid (fixed position) to flexible (movable within limits). The pile connections incorporate elements such as sliding interfaces, expansion joints, or adjustable fasteners that allow the support structure to adapt to changes in pile position due to soil movement. This maintains reliability by allowing the structure to flex with soil changes rather than resisting them rigidly.
4Force
If sliding support moves with the pipe on support structures, then the support perceives vertical and horizontal loads, but the friction factor increases and causes wear
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the sliding mechanical contact system with a rolling mechanical contact system. Instead of the support sliding along the pipeline or vice versa, a rolling element (wheel, roller, or ball) is introduced between the support and the pipeline. This substitution transforms the friction mechanism from sliding friction to rolling friction, dramatically reducing wear and frictional forces while maintaining the ability to perceive and support both vertical and horizontal loads.
Solution Approach 2:
A rolling element serves as an intermediary between the support structure and the pipeline. This intermediary component facilitates movement while minimizing direct contact and friction between the support and pipe surfaces. The rolling element distributes contact forces, reduces wear on both the pipeline and support, and maintains load perception capabilities through its contact mechanics.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures reliable pipeline operation by distributing loads uniformly, preventing deformation during soil heaving, reducing friction-related damage, and facilitating maintenance by allowing calculated displacement and flexibility in soil conditions, thus enhancing pipeline stability and longevity.
Implementation Method 1
Hinge joint is equipped with anti-friction bushings, insulating hinge elements from corrosion, reducing load from the friction
Implementation Method 2
Between half-yokes and pipeline and between the cradle and the pipeline, friction pads are placed, which made of, e.g. siloxane, providing electrical isolation of the pipeline from pile foundation to minimize the corrosion processes, as well as protecting the pipeline jacket from damage when moving
Implementation Method 3
The tower base is a flat surface provided with anti-friction corrosion-resistant spacers, for example, plates made of modified fluoropolymer or thermoplastic material based on polyethylene with anti-friction properties
Data Source
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AI summary
The claimed group of inventions relates to the construction of above-ground pipelines and can be used for laying pipelines in severe geological conditions, for example, in the conditions of permafrost, including the presence of a small surface slope. The technical result achieved when using the claimed group of inventions is to ensure the uniform distribution of the load from the pipeline to the bedding cradle, the possibility of displacement of the movable part of a pipeline support in given design conditions, prevention of deformation in the event of possible soil heaving through the implementation of compensating deformation of the unit bearing on a pile of the hinged type. The object is solved in that the movable pipeline support includes associated moving and fixed parts. In this case the movable part includes the cradle, made in the form of a semi-cylinder, at least with two semi-annular stiffeners (frames) located on the outside of the cradle, detachable half-yokes, providing fixation of the pipe in the cradle, side cheeks, rigidly welded to the frame and movably fixed to the tower base by hinge joint, while the base is made with the possibility of sliding movement along the stationary surface of the support. Also the objective is solved with structurally different performance of the supporting assembly, which is a bearing sleeve installed freely with a gap on two rigidly connected to the pile foundation half-rings in which is placed a support plate with a hole corresponding to the inner diameter of the sleeve, wherein the plate is connected with the sleeve with the vertical rails and a horizontal stiffeners that increase the rigidity of the supporting assembly.