History Channel

[riverfever]

Really cool show on Alaska right now. The contruction of the Trans-Alaskan Highway.

[Geepfreak]

I know, you are keeping me from it right now....
Wait, I hate Sherwin williams commercials..

[johnlv6]

I'm a History Channel freak...my friends are always giving me crap about that.

[riverfever]

Incredible. Really educational.

[riverfever]

They said they inspected the welds on the pipes and found a lot that were not of good quality. I was wondering how in the world they would make sure the welds were good enough to not leak oil? Visual inspection?

[SCW]

They said they inspected the welds on the pipes and found a lot that were not of good quality. I was wondering how in the world they would make sure the welds were good enough to not leak oil? Visual inspection?

Many times welds on pipes have to be X-rayed for QC.

Here is a pic of me in front of a piece of the pipeline, notice that the entire pipeline is insulated as the oil comes out of the ground at about 180F.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/utahmom/Alaska/P1000851.jpg

In this second pic, you see the verticle posts in the back that hold the pipe up off the ground. On top are heat sinks intended to keep the heat dissipated into the air rather than warming up the permafrost and making a huge muddy mess that would never be fixed. The pipeline also rides on the longitudinal crossbar that allows the line to shift up to 8 feet for thermal expansion/contraction and geologic (earthquakes) shifts. Caribou are said to frequent the pipelines for the warmth and windbreak. They are up high enough that the caribou can go under them if they wish, but they'd have to really want to.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/utahmom/Alaska/P1000849.jpg


What you see inside the pipe is called a pig. It is inserted in the stream at the north end of the line and runs the entire length of the line being pushed by the flow of oil. The edges are made of hard rubber which scours the pipe walls clean. This is also common in large drinking water lines.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/utahmom/Alaska/P1000850.jpg

[riverfever]

Is this what you do for a living?

It looked like they were looking at the welds with the naked eye. In one part they were using a small mirror to look at the weld under the pipe.

The aluminum at the top to dissipate the heat is neat as is the Teflon that was used to allow the pipe to move left and right (I think) due to heat.

[SCW]

Is this what you do for a living?


Until recently I was in the water industry (I'm a civil engineer). I now work in the power industry, so feel free to leave the lights on at night.

These pics are taken in Anchorage, the engineering and technology is similar to what I'm used to so I was very interested. Really only the specific gravity of the oil is different than water (it's lower), so the engineering is almost the same.

[Fergie]

The concrete and mobilization issues are what intrigues me. I've the show a few different times, always facinating.

I also really like the Akashi Kaikyo(sp?) bridge show they have.

[CanMan]

I got done watching that. Them truckers that run that route are crazy. Good informational show.

[wall04]

How come I gotta pay for 400+ channels just to get the six that I watch? History, History Int'l, Weather, etc.

I've seen that doc several times. Very cool. I'd like to see them try to do that today with the env. constraints they way they are.

[riverfever]

How come you think pulling that off now would be more difficult? I tend to think that todays technology would help a bit and make life a little easier.

They could wear electric socks.:viking:

[wall04]

Good point. I was thinking more from a liability/legal/regulatory perspective.

[RichP]

Good point. I was thinking more from a liability/legal/regulatory perspective.

I was thinking more along the lines of where to bury the tree huggers, they'd be thicker than ticks on a deer...

[87manche]

I was thinking more along the lines of where to bury the tree huggers, they'd be thicker than ticks on a deer...
bulldozers make short work of that.