Use of Trenchless in South America
The first country to use this type of technology in South America was Peru in 1998, using the dynamic method in the city of Lima specifically in the renewal of networks in the district of Breña, rehabilitating 6.4 km of drinking water network and 4.2 km of sanitation network, currently being in the process of renewing its networks in Lima Norte III, and IV greatly promoted by the Lima Drinking Water and Sewer Service SEDAPAL in this context. Eng. Alvite Miranda Carlos Rubén and Eng. Bordero Zarate Cesar Alejandro (2016) present the study: “Business plan for the rehabilitation of drinking water and sewage networks with trenchless technology” at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (U.P.A), which aims to carry out a market study and business plan to enter the market for the rehabilitation of basic services networks, indicating that it is a sector that is not being adequately exploited based on demand. of renewal and/or rehabilitation of basic service networks.
This study Alvite and Bordero (2016) states that with the use of rehabilitation technologies for basic service networks, time and inconvenience in execution are reduced, having a great opportunity for implementation since Lima still has 8,400 km of drinking water networks and 2,300 km of sanitation networks with a life of more than 30 years of service. The study also concludes that network rehabilitation contracts are minimally needed by the Pipe Bursting method with 43 km projects. of sanitation and 63 km of drinking water to purchase the machinery and fully return the investment thereof, having a return on investment period after the 24th month. It also concludes that this type of technology is recommended and economically competitive for reduced track widths due to the little space necessary to work and preferably paved areas since it avoids track replacements.
A second study regarding the experience of using this technology was by Esplanada (2018) whose title “Deficiencies of the Sewer system of the Lima Norte II Project and advantages of the Pipe Bursting system” for the Universidad Peruana Los Andes (UPLA), where its objective was to determine the advantages of the Pipe Bursting system implementation of the rehabilitation of the sanitation network in the Lima Norte II Project in the District of Comas – Lima, where with a descriptive methodology comparative, I arrived at the results that as the useful life of the sanitation network is exceeded, and therefore the state of the service declines, incidents and complaints from users to the entity increase, which is why in this case study, the use of traditional open trench technology was not recommended to carry out said rehabilitation, it is in this sense that the use of the Pipe Bursting system has shown that it substantially reduces the deficiencies of the sanitation system and, above all, it has minimized the social impact in the rehabilitation of the Lima Norte II Project.
Likewise, Arce Obregon (2017) also carried out the study "Application of Trenchless Technology to improve productivity in the rehabilitation of the COMAS 2016 sanitation network" at the Cesar Vallejos University (UCV). It is proposed to analyze how the application of trenchless technology will improve productivity in the rehabilitation of sanitation networks in the Comas District in Lima, Peru, where, depending on the disorderly population growth of the Comas district, it is causing a growing demand for basic services, thus, SEDAPAL faces the network renewal project in the district of Comas in 2016, where under a quasi-experimental comparative methodology, in a direct cost comparison between trenchless technology and open trench, trenchless technology is more efficient, allowing a saving of 20% compared to the traditional method, and a 30% reduction in execution of works, having the great implementation limitation of depending too much on reliable map information from the underground services.
A fourth study regarding the experience in Peru was presented by Ojeda Garayar (2015) under the title "Comparative analysis between the Pipe Bursting method and the traditional method in the renewal of drainage pipes" for the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences, where its objective was to identify and compare the advantages that both methods have in factors of time, cost and the impact that these cause with respect to the stage of renovation of sanitation networks, where this study showed that as a first result It provides greater security to the workers, since there is no need to carry out work within a high-altitude trench. It also shows us that the performance in the traditional open trench method depends on the skill and experience of the workers. On the other hand, the performance in the Pipe Bursting methodology depends on the equipment to be used and the specialist labor in charge. Likewise, its implementation generates much lower social costs than the traditional method, which are rarely analyzed in this type of projects.
In a very marked way, the South American country with the greatest experience in the use of renovation of basic services with trenchless technology is Colombia, where in 2009 the Colombian Institute of Underground Infrastructure Technologies (ICTIS) was created, a member of the International Society of Trenchless Technology (ISTT) whose function is to promote the use of these rehabilitation procedures for public service networks. In this sense, Duque (2018) carried out the research: “Socio-Environmental Benefits of Trenchless Technologies in Colombia” whose research focuses on determining the Benefits of the use of Trenchless technology in Colombia and how they can be sustained, for this purpose it carries out a series of in-depth interviews with important actors in the implementation of this technology in rehabilitation and/or renovation works of basic service networks in Colombia, one of its interviewees is Eng. Santiago Durango President of VeGroup, cited by (Duque, 2018), who indicates that the use began in Colombia of trenchless technology in the year 2000, executed by a Mexican company, a micro tunneling project that included a crossing of approximately two kilometers, having the first public service network rehabilitation project in 2006, executed in the city of Medellín, the sanitation network rehabilitation project on the north side of 37th Street between the Railway Glorieta and the San Diego roundabout, and with a Kilometer with Sliping Cured In Place Pipe CIPP technology (Manga with resin cured in situ) in parallel, the south side was intervened with an open trench with good results in relation to traditional technology, successfully mitigating the high socio-environmental impact of the project area; In 2018, the largest public service network renovation project in South America was carried out: The Centro Parrilla project in Medellín with 41.69 kilometers of aqueduct networks and 48.21 kilometers of sanitation networks. 5 types of trenchless technology were successfully used to interfere as little as possible in the normal dynamics of the Center and reduce environmental and social impacts.
Likewise, regarding the experience in Colombia of renewal of public service networks, Eng. Durango, cited by Duque 2018, clarifies that Colombia has network diagnostic equipment with a ratio of 70 to 1 compared to the rest of the countries in the region, and there are also more than ten companies and 150 machines for CIPP work as well as Directed Horizontal Drilling, where the great difficulty that companies have is given in the continuity of existing network rehabilitation work. lapses of 3-6 years between projects.
In this Study, emphasis is placed between the interviews of Eng. Durango and Eng. Francisco Piedrahita Former director of Aguas EPM cited by Duque 2018, that the lack of political will of the authorities to implement this technology since many of them prefer traditional technology to establish presence of the works carried out under the slogan "The works enter through the eyes", in addition to the fact that these projects are tied to the complete replacement of the asphalt layer.
In a second work, Leguizamon (2015) called "Methodology for carrying out directed horizontal drilling in the Pipe Ramming and Tunnel Liner modality by the Francisco José de Caldas District University makes a brief comparison with respect to the traditional technologies used in Bogotá, having as the first important project "the Bogotá Torca salitre river interceptor" which includes a length of 12.5 kilometers. Which reduced the traffic cut, where the purpose of this project was to drive the traffic network. sanitation from the north of the city to the Salitre wastewater treatment plant, whose methodological development was with the Linner Tunnel (Eaab, 2012 cited by Leguizamon 2015).
This study shows that the application of its methodology, "it is not necessary to cut or open trenches in the work area or install ducts for public services, which minimizes the visual impact and reduces expenses in the replacement of damaged materials." (Leguizamon, 2015).
Likewise, Leguizamón clarifies in 2015, "although performance is a function of the technology and machinery used, the use of qualified labor and the presence of a professional is essential to guarantee that trenchless directed drilling is carried out in compliance with the specifications and precision required for this work" (Leguizamon, 2015).
The experience in Ecuador with this type of technology is relatively new, which is presented by Arboleda (2018) in the study: “Evaluation of the non-conventional system for the rehabilitation of a sanitary sewer network” for the Espíritu Santo University, whose objective was the evaluation of non-conventional technologies, preferably non-invasive, for the rehabilitation of sanitation systems in Ecuador, specifically the technical feasibility of the use of Manga technology with cured in situ resin (CIPP-Sliping Cured In Place Pipe), taking into account the case study the change of sanitation networks from Concrete to HDPE with a diameter of 10 [inches] in Sambordon Ecuador. From this study the author concludes that for diameters greater than 10 inches, CIPP technology is 60% more expensive than traditional technology, but that this cost reduces considerably depending on the length of rehabilitation, that is, if the rehabilitation is very extensive, the CIPP process is recommended for investment, because the execution time does not affect the inhabitants or vehicular traffic.
A second study referring to the experience in Ecuador is presented by Carrera (2017), in the study “Directed Horizontal Drilling, in the Passage of drinking water conduction lines under first-order roads” for the Central University of Ecuador whose objective was to document the construction process in horizontal drilling for drinking water conduction lines in Quito Ecuador, in addition to analyzing the introduction to the Ecuadorian market as a method of network construction and its technical feasibility in this regard, being a comparative study. to the conclusion that trenchless technology, specifically directed horizontal drilling, depends on the type of soil to be used, where soils with more than 50% gravel are not suitable for this type of drilling with non-percussive heads, and the more curved the trajectory, the more difficult it will be to maintain the drilling mud.
Renzo Chirulli, "No-Dig Engineering Manual", 2016 - ISBN 978-84-946170-0-3[1].