In water pipeline design, the thrusts at bends, tees, tapers, valves a
nd blank ends are usually restrained by the provision of mass concrete
thrust blocks which may be huge in size especially those for large di
ameter pipes. These large blocks may be difficult to construct and may
also cause difficulty to find room for other underground utilities. T
he objectives of this study are to review the design practices for thr
ust blocks used in Water Supplies Department (WSD) in Hong Kong and to
look for any cost-effective and feasible alternatives of anchoring th
e pipelines.