The Southern Regional Water Pipeline Alliance (SRWPA) was designing and constructing a pipeline which passed near existing quarries. SRWPA wished to ensure that the risk of damage to the pipeline due to quarry blast vibrations was acceptable. The pipeline design codes provided little guidance on the issue.

Texcel conducted an investigation of various codes of practice and the relevant literature. An industry accepted methodology was selected, documented, and applied for estimating the response of both cement lined steel pipes and GRP pipes to typical quarry blasts. SRWPA applied the findings of this investigation in the pipeline’s design phase to ensure the integrity of the pipeline was not compromised due to blast vibrations.