Polyethylene pipes: PE water pipes and chlorinated disinfectants: a pragmatic approach to even safer solutions [PE]

Author(s) : Thomas R. Kratochvilla, Raimund Eremiasch, Christoph Bruckner

In the last years effort has been made to develop and standardise new accelerated test methods to evaluate PE 100-RC materials in short times in form of test bars. The two most important developments, the cracked round bar test (CRB test) and the strain hardening test (SH test) were published as final ISO standards in...

Author(s) : Michael Pluimer, Richard Thomas

Over the past decade, there have been several key research projects to evaluate the performance of corrugated HDPE pipes manufactured with post-consumer and postindustrial recycled materials for highway and railroad drainage applications. Three of these projects were recently completed and published (NCHRP Project...

Author(s) : Richard St-Aubin, Dr. Thomas O’Rourke, Dr. Brad Wham, Blake Berger

Molecularly oriented polyvinyl chloride (PVC-O) pipe has been found to withstand large ground deformation during seismic events without damage. The properties of PVC-O pipe that support this performance have been investigated in a multi-year testing program undertaken at the Geotechnical Lifelines Large Scale Testing...

Author(s) : Andreas Frank, Isabelle J. Berger, Mario Messiha, Carl-Gustaf Ek, Norbert Schuler, Jens-Martin Storheil, Erwin Mayrbäurl, Steve Heeley, Frank Krause, Lodewijk Niemöller, Philippe Gabriëls, Yogesh S. Deshmukh, Florian Arbeiter, Thomas Koch, Gerald Pinter

In order to improve the circular economy of polymers in terms of sustainability and reduced carbon footprint, the increased use of recyclates has become a topic of major importance. Due to their long design lifetimes, pipe applications represent an excellent opportunity to create added value to non-virgin polymers. In...

Author(s) : Lonnie Corley, Dane Chang, Harvey Svetlik, Matt Brandes, Thomas Musto, Frank Schaaf, David Fink

This paper presents a brief overview of a challenging project at the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant where HDPE was utilized to replace degraded steel buried piping in a Safety Related water system. Callaway was the first Nuclear Power plant to obtain NRC approval and successfully place the HDPE piping system into...

Author(s) : Francis Reny Costa, Anh Tuan Tran, Jeroen Oderkerk, Thomas Hjertberg, Christophe Salles, Ulf W. Gedde, Benjamin Rabaud, Flavia Zraick

The premature failure of polyethylene pipes in contact with high chlorine and chlorine dioxide, used as residual disinfectants in drinking water distribution, remains an area of concern for water companies particularly in regions where temperatures are regularly or seasonally high. Multiple factors can amplify the...

Author(s) : René Hermkens, Ernst van der Stok, Johannes de Bruin, Jeroen Weller

The replacement of fossil fuels like natural gas by sustainable gases such as biogas and hydrogen can mitigate global warming. There has been some debate about the impact of sustainable gases on the materials used in the gas grid. An extensive study of the behaviour of PE, PVC, POM and rubber materials was therefore...

Author(s) : Jeroen Wassenaar

The environmental impact in terms of global warming potentials (GWP) and nonrenewable energy demand (NRED) of sewerage & drainage pipes based on PP-MD, PP-HM, PP-B, and concrete has been assessed using life cycle analysis methodology. It can be concluded that PP-MD and PP-HM materials are able to significantly lower...

Author(s) : Thomas C. Pedersen, Robert R. Kwapisz

This paper presents rheological data on simple rigid PVC compositions lubricated paraffin wax, calcium stearate, and oxidized polyethylene wax. These three materials comprise the most widely used lubricant system for rigid PVC in North America. The influence of certain paraffin wax characteristics will be discussed....

Author(s) : Stefan Kremling, Thomas Hochrein, Peter Heidemeyer

In plastics industry, the use of terahertz technology opens up opportunities for novel non-destructive and contactless testing applications. For example, the thickness of individual layers of a foamed multilayered plastic pipe can be monitored contactless and continuously during the extrusion process. Furthermore,...

Author(s) : Michael Pluimer, Rick Thomas

A new test method was developed to evaluate the stress crack resistance of HDPE materials containing recycled content. The method involves testing un-notched specimens in an elevated temperature bath under a specified stress. The new test method was published in March of 2016 as ASTM F3181, Standard Test Method for...

Author(s) : Ernst van der Stok, Jeroen Weller, Frans Scholten

This paper describes falling-weight tests as a first step towards determining the effect of residual stresses on the fracture behaviour of old PVC-U gas pipes at impact. Results showed that the level of surrounding pipe support, the quality of the material and the diameter of the striker had a major effect on the...

Author(s) : Tomas Helenius, Karin Jacobson, Thomas Blomfeldt

Polyethylene is the leading material for new installation of drinking water pipes in Sweden. The material is recognized by the market as a flexible, light weight and an inexpensive solution. The material is ideal for water piping, however the lifetime is only guaranteed for 50 years. This is a problematic limitation...

Author(s) : Bill R. Vanhoose, Jarrett A. Nelson, Christa K. McNish, Richard W. Thomas

The Stepped Isothermal Method (SIM) is a form of Time-Temperature Superpositioning (TTS) that involves measuring the creep rate of a sample while it is subjected to a series of isothermal temperature steps. The accelerated temperature results can then be shifted back to room temperature to produce a master-curve....

Author(s) : S H Beech, P Belloir, C Salles

Plastics piping systems are specified against a relevant standard, giving dimensions, essential performance requirements, the design basis for pressure rating, and testing to prove fitness for purpose, giving the end user the confidence to use these systems. The plastics pipes industry has successfully developed...

Author(s) : Martina Sandholzer, Michael Jerabek, Christophe Salles, Günter Dreiling

Due to the combination of climate change impact, resulting in many regions of the world having a heavier and unpredictable rainfall, together with increased urbanization, the possibility for lower natural infiltration of the water into the soil has created a real challenge for storm water management systems. Forecast...

Author(s) : Christophe Salles, Christoph Stamm, Hugo Hammar

Traditional piping materials e.g. metals are becoming outdated due to their high weight, difficult handling and questionable performance over time. These are only a few of the reasons why plastics have rapidly become the preferred pipe material over the last few decades. PP-RCT (PolyPropylene Random Crystalline...

Author(s) : Andreas Frank, Anita Redhead, Thomas Kratochvilla, Heinz Dragaun, Gerald Pinter

Key words : Polyethylene, pipe, test method, lifetime, slow crack growth For a qualitative characterization of the slow crack growth resistance of polyethylene pipe grades several test methods are available. Especially for modern pipe grades these test methods exceed practical time frames and new acceleration methods...

Author(s) : Stephen Beech, Christophe Salles, Ulrich Schulte

Polyethlyene, Pipes, Buttfusion, Joining, Testing Several well established procedures are used for butt fusion welding of PE pipes globally. The most widely used are the European Single Pressure, UK Dual Pressure, and the USA High Pressure procedures. In the future it may be possible to rationalise these procedures....

Author(s) : Steven Folkman, Ammon Sorensen, Thomas Fronk

During 2011 Utah State University conducted a survey of utilities across the USA and Canada to obtain data on water main failures of municipal and private water supply systems. A total of 1,051 surveys were distributed and there were 188 respondents. The total length of pipe covered by the survey is 189,264 km...