Testing Results for Clock Spring Product Validate Better Performance
Third-party testing of a Clock Spring Co. LP product has yielded positive results. The company is a leading manufacturer of permanent and temporary composite pipeline and pipe work repair solutions. Stress Engineering Services Inc. recently performed full-scale upper-bound shear testing on the Clock Spring Casing Spacers product, validating the stronger capacities of the product.
Clock Spring announced July 12 that it had contracted with Stress Engineering to perform the shear tests on its derivative casing spacers product, evaluating and comparing the company’s product performance against traditional casing centralizer and spacing solutions.
“Axial shear resistance is an important variable and determines the maximum amount of force that can be applied to a spacer before it begins to slide,” said Buddy Powers, Clock Spring vice president of product management and technical services. “Needless to say, we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
Contractors and operators install casing spacers and centralizers on carrier pipes to protect pipe integrity. They prevent contact between the carrier pipe and casing, minimizing coating damage and during construction and ensuring centralization when construction is complete. The casing acts as a storage vessel to limit the environmental impact in the unlikely event of a leak and can help protect pipelines against third party interference and damage.
The most commonly used casing spacers are bolt-on devices made of plastic or steel. Other common casing spacers are banded wood skids. Unfortunately, while the theory behind these solutions are sound, the bolts and bands often break or move when crews pull or push carrier pipe through casings. This results in coating damage and also can cause the installed pipe to rest in contact with the casing, which can more quickly lead to corrosion and carrier pipe weakness.
Stress Engineering Services performed shear tests to measure the likelihood of a casing spacer breaking or dislodging during the application of axial force to the pipe and the spacers. The tests compared the Clock Spring solution to traditional bolted solutions by applying concentric and eccentric shear to spacers installed on abrasion resistant outer coating (ARO) coated steel and PVC pipes. The testing force required to initiate sliding of the Clock Spring solution was approximately 19 times greater than traditional casing spacers and five times harder to keep them moving. A white paper detailing these results is available here: Clock Spring Casing Spacer White Paper.
“We are driving innovation to enhance safety and provide stewardship of customer assets and the environment,” said Matt Boucher, Clock Spring president and CEO. “These encouraging results about this easy to install product are greatly gratifying and further validation that we’re on the right track.”
Clock Spring Achieves OSHA Safety Milestone
Clock Spring also announced July 17 that has achieved a major safety milestone, reaching two years of OSHA recordable-free hours.
“We are transforming this business with a focus on safety, innovation and stewardship,” Boucher said. “The safety of our team and our colleagues, partners, and customers is our foremost concern. We work daily in product development and manufacturing operations to remove and mitigate hazards in the field and in the plant. We celebrate this important milestone today, but also recognize that our work is never done.”
Clock Spring attributes its safety milestone to its products’ installation compared to traditional pipeline repair procedures, according to a company statement. The company’s products require no lifting equipment, cutting or welding, with a typical install taking about 30 minutes, with full cure after two hours, which allows for overwrapping and backfilling to be completed in the same day. This reduced open-ditch time provides added safety benefits for personnel and assets. These benefits are further enhanced by Clock Spring’s commitment to creating a safe work environment among employees, from the manufacturing to the shipping to the installation of the product.
Tags: Clock Spring, pipeline repair
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