Equipment Replacement

A major utility company partnered with Egan to replace major equipment and associated piping at one of its compressor stations. The $8.2 million project required the installation of 6,200 linear feet of piping along routes with 14 different tie-in points. Like most of Egan’s projects, this required a detailed, coordinated 3D model based off current site conditions to ensure a smooth installation. While the customer did provide as-built documentation, the prints were more than 50 years old. The project team decided to enlist the help of Egan’s in-house laser scanning division to document existing conditions.

After collecting the scan data, Egan converted the point-cloud data to a precise 3D model. The model revealed areas where flanges were off by approximately two inches, underground headers were out of place by more than an inch, multiple contact towers were out of square, and other discrepancies in the original as-built documents. Documenting exact measurements allowed Egan to account for these differences and to take full advantage of the company’s 60,000 square-foot fabrication shop in the project planning phase. Egan BIM specialists created spool drawings for roughly 90% of the required piping. The spools were built and hydrotested the controlled environment of Egan’s shop – instead of outdoors, onsite during a frigid Michigan winter – and shipped to site for installation that was within 1/32 inch tolerance.

Egan’s superintendent said that without the 3D scan, fabrication would have been impossible, and the crew would have constructed everything in field. Instead, they were able to install the 80-foot towers without any of the connected piping, saving 3 weeks on a tight project schedule. Field welds were kept to a minimum, and because so much of the documentation took place in the fabrication shop, paperwork required for QA/QC was also minimized for the field crew. Egan recorded receiving inspection reports, material test reports, trace welder IDs, and other documentation during the fabrication for easy turnover to the customer upon successful completion of the project.