Papers
Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2016 Berlin
Michael Pluimer, Leslie McCarthy, Andrea Welker, Eric Musselman
A pilot study was conducted with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority to evaluate the performance of corrugated HDPE pipes manufactured with post-consumer recycled materials in their railroad applications. Two corrugated HDPE pipes – one manufactured with 100% virgin materials and one manufactured with 49% post-consumer recycled content – were installed underneath a main commuter rail line in October 2013 with just two feet of cover from the top of the pipe to the bottom of the rail. After nearly 3 years of service, both pipes are performing as designed, and no noticeable differences were observed between the two pipes with regards to service life relative to fatigue and stress cracking based on an accelerated laboratory study.
Corrugated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes are an attractive product for culvert and drainage applications in the railroad industry due to their resistance to corrosion and abrasion, long service life, and flexibility. Railroad specifications currently require these pipes to be manufactured with 100% virgin materials. However, due to the push for more sustainable and cost-effective engineering materials and practices, the railroad industry has expressed interest in using pipes made with recycled content provided their long-term performance is equivalent to pipes made with virgin materials.
To evaluate the performance of corrugated HDPE pipes made with recycled content in rail applications, a pilot study was conducted with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA). The study was funded cooperatively by SEPTA and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 4-39. Two 30-inch diameter corrugated HDPE pipes, one manufactured with 100% virgin materials and one manufactured with post-consumer recycled content, were installed underneath a regional commuter rail line in northeast Philadelphia with 0.6 m (2 ft.) of cover from the top of the pipe to the bottom of the railroad tie. The pipes were instrumented with strain gages and extensometers to monitor their performance over time, and a laboratory study was developed to assess the long-term durability of these pipes with regards to cyclical live loads.
The introduction to this study was presented at Plastics Pipes XVII. The study is now complete, and final data are presented in this paper. The pipes have been in service for over 3 years and are performing as designed, with no change in performance since the date of installation. This was a groundbreaking study as it included the first corrugated HDPE pipe manufactured with post-consumer recycled content installed underneath one of SEPTA’s regional commuter lines. The research project was a key component of SEPTA’s ongoing sustainability initiatives.
Related papers
Author(s) : A. Taraiya, P. Degenhart, M. Soliman, M. Boerakker, R. Handstanger, R. Kleppinger
Since the introduction of polyolefins for pressure pipes, continuous improvements have been made to meet ever-higher demands on their performance and to expand their application window beyond their original scope, mostly based on new resin formulations. Today, we also continue to push the limit to provide better...
Author(s) : Drew Mueller, Peter Dyke
HDPE Pipe holds a dominant position in several markets in North America: natural gas distribution, oil patch, mining, landfill and geothermal. So why are polyethylene’s municipal water and wastewater market shares so much lower than these other industries? How has the polyethylene industry been successful in growing...
Author(s) : Derek Muckle
A technical program has been undertaken to provide evidence on the suitability of polyethylene pipe and fitting systems for the distribution of hydrogen fuel gas. The underlying principle has been to evaluate material in the form of a pipe and to consider the performance of the pipe and of the welded jointing systems...
Author(s) : Lei Wang, Guozhi Xu, Qiaoping Qiu, Weihua Lu, Yanwang Han
PP-R (random copolymerized polypropylene) has been widely used in hot and cold water systems. However, the standard PP-R pipes have the disadvantages of a large high-temperature thermal expansion coefficient, an insufficient notched impact strength, and a low temperature and pressure resistance. In this paper, a new...
Author(s) : Donald Swen, Leanne Pichay, Nicholas Vallin, Alice Wu, Jim Johnston
In the rural commune of Ait Bayoud, Morocco, two of the most remote villages in the area, Ilguiloda and Izgouaren, live with water scarcity. To meet their water needs, women and children walk several kilometers to the nearest spring each day, often multiple times a day. Consequently, children cannot attend school...
Author(s) : Ilija Radeljic, Ebbe Smith
HDPE pipe can be relatively easily scratched during the manipulation on the site, which is especially true for the marine pipelines. Installing the scratched marine pipe with the S bend method presents a risk and repair methods are usually performed. Currently, there is no standard defining the repair procedure, in...
Author(s) : Daniel Currence, Michael Plumier
Over a ten-year period, the North American corrugated plastic pipe industry successfully demonstrated that post-consumer and post-industrial recycled materials could be responsibly incorporated into corrugated pipes used for drainage applications. Prior to this work, the material standards were established for ...
Author(s) : Bruce Mowry, PhD, P.E., Brian Dorwart, P.G., P.E., David Mancini, Bryan Fletcher, Roger Williams, P.E., Rene Brito, EIT, Arnelio Alfonso, P.E .
The City of Miami Beach owns and operates a 54-inch sanitary sewage PCCP force main (FM) that was built in 1977. This FM is the only transmission pipeline for conveying about 22 million gallons per day (MGD) of raw sewage to the wastewater treatment plant. In 2012, the City identified structural deficiencies in the...
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) : Tom Stewart, Richard Hicks, Patrick Vibien, Lance MacNevin
Arguably, broadband technologies have become as vital to society as water delivery, waste removal and energy distribution. However, the role of plastic conduit in broadband is often overlooked within the piping industry and society in general. HDPE conduit is an essential component to the build -out of 5G cell...
Author(s) : Joe Babcanec, P.E., Dan Currence, P.E.
The newly released Drainage Handbook provides complete guidance on corrugated polyolefin pipe. Perhaps the biggest contribution this new handbook makes to the advancement of both HDPE and PP corrugated plastic pipe is the design procedure presented. The design procedure reflects the industry’s recommended practice for...
Author(s) : Paul J. Freudenthaler, Joerg Fischer, Mathias Eder, Reinhold W. Lang
For controlled water disinfection, typically chlorine is used and preliminary studies demonstrate its aging and crack growth acceleration effects on polyolefin pipe materials [1, 2]. Although the use of recycled plastics is not prohibited in some ISO standards for polyolefin piping systems [3–5], only small amounts...
Author(s) : James F. Mason, Akshay Ponda, Hermann van Laak, Buc Slay
The effects of liquid hydrocarbons on long term strength of pipe grade thermoplastic resins is an important consideration when designing pressure pipe for use in the oil and gas industry. There is an extensive body of work going back several decades descri bing these effects for pipe grade polyethylenes, and all...
Author(s) : Ernst van der Stok
For PE 100-RC, two tests are still under development for pipes: the point load test (PLT) and the accelerated notch pipe test (aNPT). The PLT was developed by a project group consisting of manufacturers and end users. The PLT determines the resistance to point loads as they can occur in practice. An earlier study...
Author(s) : S. Nestelberger, J. Cheng
The Point Load Test (PLT) [ 1, 2] was designed to simulate the SCG (slow crack growth) failure initiated by a rock pressing into the exterior wall of a polymer pipe. Today’s PE materials sustain long PLT testing times, due to its high SCG resistance design. Consequently, an accelerated “PLT+” with the support of...
Author(s) : Amster Howard
Flowable fill is used for many applications, but mainly for pipe trench embedment and backfill. There are three ways that using flowable fill can be kind to the environment. Because flowable fill is self-leveling and has a strength greater than the native soil, the trench cross section can be minimized. This means...
Author(s) : Gerald Pinter, Johannes Wiener, Florian Arbeiter, Abhishek Tiwari, Otmar Kolednik
For pipe applications, catastrophic failure due to crack growth has to be prevented by all means. Techniques to develop new and even tougher pipe materials are explored in this contribution. The aim is to create a multi-layer architecture, that exhibits high toughness as well as damage tolerance towards sharp notches....
Author(s) : Greg Scoby, PE
This paper will detail the steps taken during adoption of HDPE for potable water systems improvements including material justification, creation of related specifications, investigation of available piping components, qualification of contractors and the construction/inspection of related systems. The City of...
Author(s) : Christian Schalich
Plastic pipes for infrastructure and building applications are precisely specified with regards to wall thickness and diameter. Pipe manufacturers use different measuring methods in order to ensure the required dimensional accuracy and maintain a constant high quality. This paper introduces a measuring system based on...
Author(s) : Eng. Grigorios Vigellis, Eng. Mohamed Hageb
Continuous development and innovation in the production of plastic pipes made by high density polyethylene (HDPE) has enabled the industry to produce much larger diameter systems than ever believed possible. The enablers for production of such large plastic pipes are three main pillars: continuous innovation...
Members of the Association
