Impact of wear & tear in dredging

Bemas 25/10/2006
Impact of wear and tear in dredging
Types of dredgers
Activities of JDN
What is special about dredging and the related maintenance
Maintenance of dredging equipment includes M+R and W&T
Typical solutions to make components in contact with soil more
resistant to abrasion
Organisation of the maintenance
Cutterdredge
Hopperdredge
Dipper dredge
JFJ De Nul Barge loading
JFJ De Nul Barge loading
JFJ De Nul Shore discharging
Activities of JDN in 2005
795 Million Euro
0
5
10
15
20
25
Dredging
Capital
dredging
Mainte-
nance
dredging
Off shore
activities
Land
reclama-
tion
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Dredging
Civil
works
James Cook shore discharging at
Dubai (Reclamation)
Hopper dredgers
Vasco Da Gama
Il Principe in Valencia (capital dredging)
Offshore: Scour protection with the Side stone
dumper Pompei
Rockworks
What is special about dredging and the
related maintenance
There is an enormous variation in the soil to be dredged: mud, sand (fine to
coarse, with or without shells),gravel (round or sharp pebbles), clay,
calcarenite, limestone, sandstone (upto 40 MPa), and even basalt (requires
hydraulic hammering or blasting): each of this soils involve specific technical
and W&T problems, however, the same dredger has to operate in this wide
variety of projects, it means that our choices of W&T resistant materials
mostly are a comprise.
Even on one project the soil might differ considerably: at different depths,
various layers are encountered: this complicates the comparisons between
the different types of wear resistant materials
Mostly there is only a limited information concerning the soil, sometimes the
infomation is even wrong.
The duration of dredging projects is in general quite short: a few months:
insufficient time to evaluate new W&T solutions
The components in contact with the soil are subject not only to abrasion but
also to high impact
Unforeseen: hopper loaded with stones, it was
specified in the tender as: sand with gravel
The fleet is operating worldwide: cordination is difficult
Remote areas, without repair facilities, no local supply possible, with
difficult acces, sometimes rather unsafe.
Local regulations (not always clear in advance) complicate the
operations: safety, labour, environment, taxes, import, etc
Contracts have to start on short notice: no time for proper
preparation, while the delivery time for W&T parts is several months
The volumes dredged with one vessel are rather high (from3000 m
up to 100.000 m per day)
The installed power is high: for cutter dredgers upto 6000 KW on the
cutterhead and 16.000 KW on the dredge pumps.
Planning of the fleet is continuously adjusted
Weather conditions (Seastate) affect the operations
The life time of a dredger is more than 30 years, some reach an age
over 40 years
To start a project large volumes of equipment are to be mobilised
from one part of the world to the other: could be more than 15.000
m, it involves heavy weights (above 300 tons)
It is a highly specialised job: training of crew and staff is to be done
in house.
HRM: only few people want to work overseas, the job is to be done
in sometimes difficult circumstances, its is a process that never
stops (24 hrs a day, 7 days a week), we continuously move from
location, the duration of a contract is uncertain.
Maintenance of the JDN dredging fleet
Dredging vessels, side stone dumpers, sheerlegs, and seagoing split
hopper barges (40 units)
Auxiliary floating equipment (100 units) (tugs, supply vessels, rock barges
(with a dwt of up to 12.000 tons), crane pontons, oil recovery vessel,
bunker barges, spray pontons,etc)
Floating pipe lines, self floating hoses, self floating lines with ball joints (dia
700 mm upto 1100 mm), about 8 km.
Submerged lines and shore lines (dia 700 mm up to 1100 mm) more than
120 km
Land based auxiliary equipment (cable cranes, excators, dumpers,
wheelloaders, bull dozers, gensets, welding machines, compressors, etc)
and moblile workshops
Break downs must be avoided!
The target is to achieve a high efficiency of the equipment, with a maximum
of operational hours, and optimal performance of all systems and
installations, this is achieved by PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
M+R
Normal maintenance to the ships (dredging vessels, auxiliary
vessels, land based auxiliary equipment) and their machinery
installations is based on running hours and on time intervals
W&T
Maintenance to the components in contact with the dredged soils, is
dependent on the type of the dredged material
The cargo hold (hopper)
The dredge pumps
The dredge pipes on board,the dragheads
The cutterheads with their equipment
The floating pipe lines
The submerged pipe lines and the pipe lines on shore
Cost per m for a cutter dredge (in
sandstone, calcarenite, breccia)
15.3%
17.1%
24.2%
3.0%
27.0%
11.8%
1.6%
Remuneration.
Repair Provision.
Wear and Tear.
Insurance.
Fuel, Lubs, Greases &
Consumables
Crew Cost.
Superintendence.
74.9%
7.0%
6.2%
2.0%
3.1%
0.9%
6.0%
CSD : Marco Polo
Floating Auxiliary Plant.
Reclamation Area.
Pipelines.
Workshop.
Survey Equipment & Personnel.
General site overheads.
Cutter dredge in highly abrasive sand and calcarenite
Cutter dredge in hard limestone
67.5%
8.4%
7.3%
1.1%
13.8%
0.4% 1.5%
CSD : LEONARDO DA VINCI
Fl oating Auxiliar y Plant.
Recl amation Ar ea.
Pi pelines.
Wor kshop.
Survey Equipment & Personnel.
General site over heads.
11.3%
9.9%
39.1%
2.4%
25.2%
11.2%
0.7%
Remunerati on.
Repair Prov ision.
Wear and Tear.
Insurance.
Fuel, Lubs, Greases & Cons umables
Crew Cost.
Superintendenc e.
81.4%
5.2%
4.4%
1.5%
3.0%
1.5%
2.9%
CSD: JFJ DE NUL
Floating Auxiliar y Plant.
Reclamation Ar ea.
Pipelines.
Wor kshop.
Survey Equipment & Personnel.
General site over heads.
22.7%
21.7%
32.2%
3.8%
10.8%
7.9%
1.0%
Remuner ation.
Repair Prov ision.
Wear and Tear.
Ins urance.
Fuel, Lubs, Greases &Consumables
Crew Cost.
Superintendenc e.
Cost for per m for a hopper discharging medium
size sand
80.6%
2.0%
8.8%
0.7%
3.7%
1.0%
3.1%
TSHD : JAMES COOK
Flo at ing Auxi l iary Pl ant.
Recl amati on Ar ea.
Pip el ines.
Wo rkshop .
Sur vey Equi pment & Perso nnel.
General si t e overheads.
25.0%
20.1%
8.4%
4.2%
29.5%
11.1%
1.8%
Remuner at i on.
Rep ai r Pr ovi si on.
Wear and Tear.
Insurance.
Fuel , Lubs, Greases & Consumab les
Cr ew Cost.
Sup er intendence.
Hopper discharging gravel short sailing
Hopper discharging medium sand long distance sailing
84.6%
2.2%
3.9%
1.3%
4.2%
0.8%
2.9%
TSHD : ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT
Float ing Auxiliary Plant .
Reclamat ion Area.
Pipelines.
Worksho p.
Survey Equipment & Personnel.
General sit eo verheads.
19.3%
14.7%
26.5%
4.0%
23.6%
10.0%
1.9%
Remuneration.
Repair Pr ovision.
Wear and Tear .
Insur ance.
Fuel , Lubs, Greases &Consumables
Crew Cost .
Super int endenc e.
87. 3 %
1.5 %
5. 0 %
0 . 5%
2. 0 %
1. 2 %
2 . 6 %
TSHD : VASCODA GAMA
Float ing Auxili ary Plant .
Reclamat ion Area.
Pipeli nes.
Workshop.
SurveyEq uipment & Personnel .
General sit e overheads.
27.7%
19.8%
13.4%
4.1%
27.7%
6.4%
0.9%
Remuneration.
Repair Pr ovision.
Wear and Tear .
Insur ance.
Fuel , Lubs, Greases &Consumables
Crew Cost .
Super int endenc e.
Attention for maintenance starts with
the design of new vessels
Large dredgers are taylor made, unlike cranes or excators they
are not standard machines.
Choice of the makers: for the major equipment only first class
suppliers are taken into consideration: it means their equipment is
reliable, they can give service, they guarantee the availability of
spares for the vessels lifetime
Reduncy of the installations allows repairs (in case of breakdown
or preventive maintenance) while the vessel continues its
operations
Design includes safety margins suction pipe of a hopper,
cutterhead, dredge pumps
Acces to components
Critical parts of the hopper plating are given an extra plate
thickness, which allows for wear down of the cargo hold
The vessels are self supporting, they are equipped with all means
required to realize the repairs :
Stores for the spare parts
Travelling deckcranes, overhead cranes, other hoisting facilities
Repair area on deck for heavy parts
Robots to change cutterteeth on the JFJ De Nul
Welding machines, with a distribution systemover the vessel
On board workshops with lathes, milling, drilling machines etc
Extensive set of tools, measuring devices etc
Depending on the type of vessel, wear resistant materials are chosen for
the equipment in contact with the soil, this allows for longer service life of
the components:
Double walled dredge pumps, with hard cast iron pumphousing,
special alloy impellers and wearing plates are used for
cutterdredgers,and the large hopper dredgers, on other vessels cast
steel single walled pumps are installed
Dredge pipes are lined with Nihard, or made of alloys with high
resistance to abrasion for cutterdredgers and pipes in the pumproom
of the large hopperdergers (sometimes in combination with FEDUR),
on other hoppers cast steel and rolled mild steel pipe pieces are used
Cutterheads designed for low maintenance: liners protect critical
parts, the teeth system allows for easy and quick maintenance
Dragheads protected with domite wearing plates
Rubber hoses : equipped with liners or of special design
Double walled dredge pump
Double walled dredge pump
Breakage, cracks and wear of pump components
Double walled pipe
Double walled pipes
Armoured rubber hoses (Velp)
Oxar or Nihard IV supporting
rings are embedded in the
rubber (distance 40 mm)
The rings have a trapezium
shape, with the longest leg at
the inside diameter,
This designs allows for
maximum flexibility, and gives
an optimum protection against
abrasion
Life time 5 (25) times higher
Rubber hoses
Where flexible pipe connections are
to be used, rubber hoses are
required
Rubber has a high resistance to
round pebbles but is vulnerable
when the particles are sharp
Therefor a hose is constructed out of
short rubber segments lined with
steel cones (allows bending
angles of 35)
The cones are hardfaced with a
welding metal, a FeCrTiMoC basis
with embedded TiCarbides
The hardfacing is done in open-arc,
fully automatic
Draghead
Dragheads (domite blocks, ceramic
bushes, easily replaceble teeth)
Suction mouth of a cutterdredge trimay
and domite
Cutter shield (front part of cutterladder) protected with oxar
and trimay bars
Cutterhead
Cutter coming up for maintenance
What is specific about Cutters and their equipment
The cutterheads should have a strenght suitable for continuous
maximum cutter power (on 3 teeth only when dredging rocks), (6000
Kw for JFJ De Nul)
Angle of attack is to be appropriate for the application: it will be
different for sand & clay and for rock
The teeth must well protect the arms, the adapter and its socket
against abrasion.
Optimal transport of the cut material towards the suction mouth
The teeth must have a high resistance to abrasion
Even when wearing down teeth should remain as sharp as possible
A narrow fit of point and adapter, which should remain constant
even after a long service time (reliable, insensitive tolerances)
Safe and quick replacement of teeth
The teeth and adapters are made of a special alloy cast steel
Workability limits the weight of the teeth to 25 kg
Replacement of the adapters to be as maintenance friendly as possible:
easy to fit to the correct position, welding to be reduced to a minimum
The cutterhead is a welded construction, made out of cast steel arms, a hub
and a ring.
The cutterring is protected with Oxar liners
The sockets for the adapters are covered with protection shells, built up with
Wolfram carbides (7888 SH)
The consumption of pick points when dredging hard rock can be up to 500
pcs per day, they are exchanged from the cutter platform while the cutter is
mounted on the cutterladder.
In such conditions the cutterhead might be exchanged 2-3 times a day,
because adapters are broken, or damaged (eg due to broken points)
The cutterheads are repaired in a mobile workshop on shore, up to 40
welders (day and night shift) can be involved to realise this job for one
cutterdredge
To work in such conditions 8-10 cutterheads per cutterdredge are required
For different types of soil, different cutterheads, and typical teeth
are required, the soil is seldomhomogeneous, so the choice of the
equipment will nearly always be a compromise.
The cost of a cutterhead: 200.000 up to 350.000 US $.
Cost for teeth 50 upto 125 US $ per pc.
JDN disposes of enormous stock of teeth and adapters (at least
40.000 pcs)
For the JDN fleet the yearly cost for points and adapters is at least
5.000.000 .
For special applications teeth are covered with Wo Carbides, it is
applied in the workshops of specialised subcontractors,by Plasma
Transferred Arc Welding or by Spray Fusion. As an alternative the
product is simply melted down by heating in our own on the site
workshop (only when low cost labour is available)
Flared points covered with Wo Carbides
Test are performed with ceramic inserts, cast in
the teeth (Magotteaux)
Cutter maintenance at Dubai Workshop
Cutter repairs at Port Hedland
Marco Polo Changing Cutter and pickpoints
JFJ De Nul Changing pickpoints
JFJ De Nul - Changing a cutterhead
Two parallel shore discharge lines one standby
for the other each 3 km long
Floating lines
Organisation of the technical department
Newbuilding and development department: 20 engineers, most of
themgraduated froma university
Design office: 20 draughtsmen
Amos department to set up the data base with which our spare parts
and preventive maintenance is organised
Fleet managers in Aalst
Technical superintendents on the contract site, in charge for one
dredge
Highly qualified crew on the ships, foremen for the local
workshops
Local seaman, welders and mecanics
Workshop in Aalst
Logistic department
Quality control
How is W&T monitored
US thickness measurements of dredge pumps, dredge pipes,
hopperplating etc are done at regular intervals, depending on the
type of soil that is being dredged, in the most demanding
circumstances readings are taken weekly, they are entered in the
data base
Increase in cutter power and side winch pull indicate that pick points
are worn
Logistics
Purchase department: nearly all parts are bought by this department in
the head office.
We avoid local purchasing, to guarantee the best quality, to reduce the cost,
to avoid abuses, to allow our local superintendents to concentrate on
technical matters
For W&T parts we have suppliers mainly in the EEC and USA, but also in
China, India, Australia and Singapore.
Warehouses in Belgium, inclusive a (9 ha) storage area near Ghent
(includes a 300 m long deep water quay), in Dubai, Batam, Honduras,
Argentina (all with direct acces to sea).
Transport department: transport of parts (7 tons airfreight (M+R) and 10
containers a week), mobilisations of plant
Spare parts
Standardisation of the installations on board of the vessels allows to interchange
parts beween ships, and to reduce the amount of strategic stocks
JDN invests more than 10 % of the value of the vessel in spare parts (M+R and
W&T), for cutter dredgers up to 15 %
A standard set of wear and tear parts is always on board or near the vessel, it covers
normal breakdowns and average wear in normal soils: pumphousings, impellers,
wear plates for pumps, cutters, dragheads, complete suction pipes and dragheads for
hoppers, cutterheads, teeth and adapters for the cutterheads and dragheads, critical
components in the on board pipelines, a complete set of rubber hoses etc.
In the Belgian ware houses and overseas storage areas extra strategic stock is kept
to cover wear down of unforeseen abrasive soils, and to allow JDN to start even the
most demanding new projects on very short notice. This includes huge stocks of pick
points for cutterheads, pumphousings, impellers, wearing rings and plates, 100 %
spares for all the pipe lines on board of a cutterdredge, all cast pipe pieces for the
hoppers, and at least in beween 10 and 20 km pipes for submerged and shore pipe
lines, spare ball joints for the floating lines etc
JDN has its own casting models for all wear and tear parts, which makes us
independent from specialised suppliers, and allows us to work with the foundaries we
consider reliable
Loading barges at the Zelzate Quay
Zelzate storage area
Storage area Aalst
Batam storage area and workshop
Dubai storage area
Repairs: where and who
Own crew
Local reliable workshops
Repair yards all over the world, mainly in Europe, Middle East,
Argentina, China and Singapore
Repairs are done as much as possible in the area where the
dredgers are at work, we seldomdeviate the vessels to have repairs
done
Own workshops, in Aalst and local own mobile workshops (our
Dubai workshop employs about 120 people)
Port Hedland mobile workshop
Port Hedland Cutter repair shop
Typical mobile workshop for one cutter dredge
Welding workshop in Aalst
Welding workshop in Aalst
Welding workshop in Aalst
Aalst workshop - Maintenance to valve - sheave
Aalst - Machine shop
Surprise: Dynamite encountered, while dredging a
trench in dead coral, in steep cliffs of 18 m high