Tracto-Technik GRUNDORAM rammer works its magic for AMS Trenchless
AMS Trenchless is the UK’s largest privately owned Horizontal Directional Drilling and Guided Auger Boring (Trenchless Pipe Installation) contractor in the UK.
Based in Scunthorpe and with twenty five years of experience within the industry, AMS Trenchless has a policy of investing in the latest trenchless technology to ensure it remains at the forefront of a dynamic and evolving industry.
The company has long recognised the benefits of the GRUNDORAM horizontal rammer range from TRACTO-TECHNIK UK 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 2860 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 24m 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 a HDD, 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, he said: “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.”
The GRUNDORAM is one of the most technically advanced Trenchless installation products on the market. Designed to provide a robust, resilient and reliable solution for trenchless installations each model is a galvanised one-piece machine housing an elaborately tempered piston. Impact power varies from 180 Nm/joule from the Mini-Atlas model to a powerful 40,500 Nm/joule achievable with top of the range Apollo.
For use in all kinds of soil types the most common applications include horizontal installation of steel pipes up to ND 4,000 mm underneath streets, railway tracks and rivers up to 80 m length without pressing abutments. With the appropriate accessories, GRUNDORAM horizontal rammers can also be used for vertical applications, to support HDD drilling (HDD assist) and for dynamic pipe renewal.
