THE LIBYAN GREAT MAN-MADE RIVER PROJECT PHASE-I .1. MANUFACTURE OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE CYLINDER PIPE

The Great Man-Made River Project is the response of the Libyan Government to the problems of increasing urban and agricultural water demand, and the declining quantity and increasing salinity of existing available supplies. The huge project is intended to exploit ancient aquifers in the Libyan Sahara and to bring water to the cities and agricultural regions of the coastal area. This Paper is concerned with the manufacture of 1900 km of the unusually large prestressed concrete cylinder pipes in diameters of 1600-4000 mm used in the main conveyance lines and well-field collector lines. The bid price for the manufacture and installation of pipe and associated works was about US$3.3 billion. The history of the project and its implementation, and the reasons for the selection of prestressed concrete cylinder pipe, the background to its development, and use elsewhere are briefly discussed. The structural design method used for the pipe is outlined and pipe manufacturing is described, including the design and layout of the pipe manufacturing plants as well as detailed descriptions of the various pipe elements and their function and specification. Organization and manning of the plants and related topics, handling, transport and laying of the pipes are also discussed.