NASA Langley
Waldron Engineering recently completed the detailed engineering and design of a new steam line and condensate return system for NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The design effort took over six months and included almost four miles of steam and condensate piping, a steam system health monitoring system, a back up diesel electric generator, a new uninterruptible power supply and the cleaning, patching and waterproofing of over 3,000 feet of the Centerís Underground Utility Tunnel No.4.
The 400 psig steam system design contains almost 30 externally pressurized bellows expansion joints, over 300 feet of direct buried pre-engineered conduit piping, three manholes, engineered pipe supports, anchors, limit stops and line stops. The condensate system design includes both high pressure condensate trap returns and low pressure pumped condensate returns.
The steam and condensate system designs are unique because the center is served by two separate steam plants with a combined total of six boilers, four that burn natural gas or fuel oil and two that are refuse fired. Additionally, each plant's distinctive operating and dispatch modes, multiple design pressures and remote locations made the instrumentation and control design especially challenging.
Developing the waterproofing plan for the utility tunnel also proved challenging. The 40 year old tunnel is underwater (i.e. below the water line) and this hostile external environment has taken it's toll over the years. The leak repair technique uses high pressure hydrophobic grout, a system that “chases water” to develop a tight bond with the tunnel structure in the vicinity of leaks.
This project was Waldron's first heavy industrial engineering and design job for the federal government and included detailed cost estimates, detailed construction scheduling, over 150 drawings and a large specification package.