Development of a novel class of polyethylene materials for Hot and Cold applications: a small-scale study to appraise the long term strength at high temperature

Author(s) : Andreas Moerman, Flip van der Valk, Mirjam Blokker KWR, Tjakko Haaijer, Jan Vreeburg,

Drinking water companies with ageing networks are facing vast amounts of drinking water network reconstructions during the coming decades. This development coincides with the energy transition, which puts pressure on the available space underground. These external drivers give drinking water companies an opportunity...

Author(s) : Dominique GUEUGNAUT, Pascal AUSSANT, Romuald BOUAFFRE, Myriam BECHROURI

Concerns regarding the environment and sustainable development have revived interest in the reprocessing and re-use of polymer materials from manufactured objects that have reached the end of their operating life. Within this framework, formal professional agreements have been put in place at global level under the...

Author(s) : Mario Messiha, Britta Gerets, Jan Heimink, Andreas Frank, Florian Arbeiter, Gerald Pinter

A majority of field failure of viscoelastic plastic pipes can be attributed to slow crack growth (SCG) and has become crucial in terms of characterization of newly developed materials – particularly, if they are designed for pressurized pipe applications. In this study, investigations in terms of SCG resistances...

Author(s) : Lukas Travnicek, Pavel Hutar, Jan Poduska, Andreas Frank, Florian Arbeiter, Jaroslav Kucera, Jiri Sadilek, Gerald Pinter, Lubos Nahlik

The application of recycled material in pressure piping systems has been considered lately – it was suggested, that the recycled polyethylene could be used as a part of a multilayer pipe together with virgin material. This type of pressure pipes is not availableon the market yet, so their properties can be only...

Author(s) : Hermann van Laak, Jan Heimink, Mario Messiha, Andreas Frank, Christoph Bruckner, Thomas Kratochvilla

For high pressure pipes above maximum operation pressure of 10 bar, this paper emphasizes PA-U12 as the easy to install alternative to steel. It underlines the superb performance of PA-U12 pipes for alternative installation techniques without need for a separate mechanical protection. An unplasticized polyamide 12...

Author(s) : Dominique GUEUGNAUT, Manuel TESSIER, Romuald BOUAFFRE

Given the virtual absence of available up-to-date results regarding the acceptance criteria for defects at electro-welding interfaces, a study has been launched by GRTgaz RICE with the two-fold aim of confirming the accuracy of the PAUT technique for the detection and sizing of calibrated pit-shaped defects implanted...

Author(s) : Mario Messiha, Andreas Frank, Isabelle J. Berger, Jan Heimink, Hermann van Laak, Florian Arbeiter, Gerald Pinter

Since the last decade polyamide 12 (PA12) has been successfully introduced as material for SDR 11 gas piping systems up to 18 bar, representing itself as an attractive alternative to steel pipes for high-pressure applications. Practical experience has confirmed that beside the higher strength, PA12 pipe grades also...

Author(s) : Dominique GUEUGNAUT, Adil BOUJLAL, Aymeric LOPITAUX, Bertrand SEVRE

A special concept has been developed by GRTgaz Research and Innovation Center for Energy (RICE) for temperature mapping at the interface of an electrowelded assembly.The technical solution consists of a tubular piece in place of the real PE pipe, made of a non-weldable polymer with thermal parameters close to those of...

Author(s) : Pavel Hutar, Jan Poduska, Pavol Dlhy, Andreas Frank, Jaroslav Kucera, Jiri Sadilek, Gerald Pinter, Lubos Nahlik

This paper investigates possible use of recycled material as a part of a multilayer polyethylene pressure pipe system. Crack propagation in different configurations is simulated. Lifetimes of pipes containing recycled material are calculated. Results are compared with lifetimes of pipes made of virgin...

Author(s) : Dominique GUEUGNAUT, Charles FERNANDEZ, Romuald BOUAFFRE, Bertrand SEVRE, Florent ANGELINI

Representative earthquake loadings have been reproduced in the ENGIE Lab-CRIGEN laboratories on three PE grades, including an excavated old PE63 pipe operated during more than 35 years. Dynamic loading does not alter the pipe residual performances for the three PE families tested, as shown by both the hydrostatic...

Author(s) : Pavel Hutař, Jan Poduška, Jaroslav Kučera, Eva Nezbedová, Andreas Frank, Jiří Sadílek, Gerald Pinter

Residual stresses can significantly influence the lifetime of polymer pipes. Therefore, realistic estimation of residual hoop stress can contribute to accurate lifetime estimations. The previously used “accurate method” is quite time consuming and needs a lot of specimens to be prepared and treated. A simplified...

Author(s) : Jan H. Petermann, Ralph Klose, Marius Thiel

This paper gives an introduction into the Terahertz measurement technique and shows the technology transfer from lab to pipe industry. The technical basics are explained how to measure pipes` wall thickness by THz pulse runtime differences. The measurability of common plastics like HDPE, PP, PVC and PA6 are...

Author(s) : Dominique GUEUGNAUT, Adil BOUJLAL, Aymeric LOPITAUX, Romuald BOUAFFRE

A specific methodology has been designed by ENGIE’ R&T Division to allow an accurate determination of the initiation (incubation) time of the NCBT data. This methodology is based on two different data processing procedures. The first data processing proceeds from searching the minimum of the second derivative of both...

Author(s) : Dominique GUEUGNAUT, Florent ANGELINI, Romuald BOUAFFRE, Manuel TESSIER

A test campaign has been carried out by ENGIE Lab-CRIGEN in order to evaluate the acuity of the Phased Array Ultrasonic Technique (PAUT) for detecting and sizing calibrated defects implanted at the inner surface of a PE pipe.These calibrated defectshad four different geometries, called “V-shaped”, “half-V shaped “,...

Author(s) : Jan H. Sällström, Johan Sandström, Sven E. Sällberg

Flange joints connecting plastic pipes to valves are studied. The pipes have a reduced flange adaptor or a HP-flange adaptor. In the full scale experiments all flanges have a bolt circle diameter Ø725 mm. Four types of gaskets are used: an O-ring, a standard and a profiled gasket of EPDM with a steel core without and...

Author(s) : Frans Scholten, Ernst van der Stok, Jan Breen

Very occasionally PVC-U water pipes suddenly fail due to a long brittle crack with a length of many meters which propagates with the speed of sound along the pipe and causes extensive water loss. This phenomenon has been recognized as Rapid Crack Propagation (RCP). The conditions under which RCP can occur are an...

Author(s) : GUEUGNAUT Dominique, BOUJLAL Adil, BOUAFFRE Romuald, LOPITAUX Aymeric

The emergence of a new generation of PE100, named PE100 RC, with a significant enhanced Slow Crack Growth (SCG) resistance enlights the need for new testing methods in order to be able to test such resins in reasonable test durations. Consequently in the last five years some new tests have been designed to assess for...

Author(s) : GUEUGNAUT Dominique, ANGELINI Florent, BOUJLAL Adil, BOUAFFRE Romuald, SEVRE Bertrand, LOUET Patrick

Polyethylene (PE) is a widespread material for the manufacturing of gas and water distribution pipelines and a large number of PE electrofusion pipe joints can be found over the thousands of kilometres of PE pipeplines all over the world, thus generating an increasing interest in checking the quality of these joints....

Author(s) : Gueugnaut Dominique, Boujlal Adil, Rousselot Denise, Bouaffre Romuald

(Polyethylene, SIS technique,Micro-sampling)The use of polyethylene(PE) since the early seventies on the GDF SUEZ’ distribution networks has lead to the coexistence of a very wide variety of PE resinswith significant differences in their long term performances. Nevertheless, in order tojustify a possible delayed or...

Author(s) : Gueugnaut Dominique

(Polyethylene, Non destructive technique, Ultrasonic Phased Array, Slow Crack initiation time) Since a few years it has been proved that - among the available concepts - the Ultrasonic Phased-Array technique (PA UT) was one of the most promising candidate for Non Destructive and Non Intrusive analysis of PE and...