Client name: BHP Iron Ore

Location: Port Hedland, north-west Western Australia

Total project value: Confidential

Duration: 2016 – 2017

Services provided: Selection phase engineering, conceptual design and capital cost estimates for option assessment; detailed design engineering for definition phase for piping, mechanical, civil and structural disciplines

Nelson Point tunnel water pipeline

Replacing a pipeline to BHP Iron Ore’s process water tanks required design where the pipe would be partly buried and also travel through Nelson Point’s conveyor tunnel beneath the harbour.

The detailed design by Tetra Tech Proteus for a 4km section of 400 polyethylene piping also needed to be capable of supplying 220L per second (L/s) – a significant increase from the existing pipe’s 180 L/s.

The design also incorporated:

• Complete hydraulic modelling of the boosted, two-stage system
• Transient analysis and control logic input to mitigate pressure surges
• Analysis of existing pumps so existing infrastructure could deliver the required flow rate.