Evaluation of the Construction and Investment Process of a High-Pressure Gas Pipeline with Use of the Trenchless Method and Open Excavation Method. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Abstract

The study presents the application of multi-criteria analysis, i.e., the Analytic HierarchyProcess (AHP), for the evaluation of investments related to the realisation of a high-pressure gaspipeline. The authors evaluated the realisation of the gas pipeline with the use of alternativemethods: the trenchless Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method and the open excavationmethod, based on the example of the construction of a high-pressure gas pipeline DN1000. Sectionslocated in naturally valuable areas on the route of the pipeline Wierzchowice-Kiełczów (Poland)were analysed, on the section from the valve station in Czeszów to the Kiełczów node. The researchconsidered the following criteria: technical costs, economic costs, social costs, and environmentalcosts. The sum of these partial estimations is the “total cost” of the investment. Research revealedthat the technical costs of the open excavation method are in all cases higher than the technologicalcosts of the trenchless method during the realisation of a gas pipeline (in the AHP analysis, theyreceive an average score of −4 or −3, compared to a score of −2 for the HDD method). On the otherhand, the economic costs are comparable, with a slight advantage for the HDD method. The overallscore for the open excavation method obtained with use of the AHP multi-criteria evaluation is, fordifferent variants, approximately −19, while the evaluation of the realisation of a gas pipeline withuse of the Horizontal Directional Drilling method gives a score from −15 to −10, depending on thesection.