Zhang Zhihao, Zheng Xiaoming
# 2012 Barcelona
PE pipes have been used for many years in China. However, due to lack for engineering experience, some failure or leakages caused by PE pipe axial shrinkage have occurred in practice. In particular leaks were observed at or near the joints between metal and PE pipes. Suspecting that the cause of the leakage was the axial shrinkage of the PE pipes experiments were set up to monitor shrinkage and the environmental temperature over in period of 12 months. This article presents and correlates the data obtained over a 12 month period against the environmental temperatures. Based on the results it is proposed that the “Buried PE pipe installation code” should consider two solutions to solve the leakage of joining points caused by axial dimension variation of the PE pipe. One is by “release or compensation” of PE pipe axial dimension change and another is by “restriction” of PE pipe axial stress. In this way the full advantages of PE water pipes could be realized in the Chinese Water Industry. KEY WORDS : PE water supply pipe, joint pull out, temperature changes, water leakage, axial shrinkage
