The water for the world™ initiative: reflection on 5 years of experience

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) : Patrick Campbell, Joanne Claronino, Shana Meeus, Joseph Sanders, David Chrystie-Lowe

Polyethylene (PE) potable water mains, with design life of 50 years (BS EN 12201), have been in widespread use in the UK water industry for more than 30 years. PE pipe is light, flexible and reliable in comparison with other pipe materials and the UK water industry has made a considerable investment in replacing...

Author(s) : Vivek Rohatg, Gregor Hiesgen, Mark J. Lamborn, Ashish M. Sukhadia, Douglas E. Simpson, David W. Borrego, Pamela L. Maeger

Maintaining dimensions within specifications is problematic for the extrusion of large diameter thick-wall polyethylene (PE) pipe (> 75 mm wall) due to sag caused by insufficient resin melt strength. However, sag can be controlled through careful resin selection and optimization of the pipe cooling process. This paper...

Author(s) : Isabelle J. Berger, Andreas Frank, Gerald Pinter, David Nitsche, Dirk Petry

Electrofusion (EF) sockets constitute a well-established and practically proven technology for the joining of polyethylene (PE) pressure pipes. As for the pipes, the potential lifetime of such welding connections is beside other properties also depending on the resistance against slow crack growth (SCG). The current...

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) : Ian Aldridge, Declan Robinson, Dave Smart, Chris Reed, Martyn, Greig, Trevor Stafford, David Christie-Lowe, Alec Erskine

For the UK polyethylene (PE) gas pipe network, the first installations now exceed 40 years in the ground, with an original design life of 50 years. It was thus timely to review the current condition and performance history of these first generation PE materials. A major 4 year project was started in 2010 to examine...

Author(s) : David Chrystie-Lowe

The many benefits of PE100 pipe materials include flexibility and toughness in addition to being relatively light products that are not subject to corrosion and expected to last well beyond the design lifetime [1]. It is also a distinct advantage that end-load resistant joints can be made using butt fusion (BF) and...

Author(s) : Nick Mark, Eric Bridgstock, David Carey

An insight into a unique approach to the management of electrofusion and butt fusion joint quality on polyethylene pipelines. The presentation will reference experience and learnings from a system that has already been used in the field to great effect (see Abstract) and a new approach to butt fusion (see enclosed...

Author(s) : David Becerril García, Jacinto Cortés-Pérez, Ian D. Moore

Joint performance of joints in gravity flow buried pipelines is very important since joint failure could produce structural or service limits to the system. Standards have been developed to evaluate that joints have the necessary structural and leakage capacities which specify test methods that are not clear and do...

Author(s) : Dr. Amaia Bastero, David López Piquer

The industrial sector has traditionally used metal pipes for transporting a wide variety of chemicals and highly corrosive liquids. When metal pipes are exposed to aggressive media, their lifetime is considerably reduced. Polyethylene pipes, have demonstrated since the 1950s to be a safe, reliable and cost effective...

Author(s) : Sonya Pemberton, David Chrystie-Lowe, Sabah Rafiq, Karolina Modelska, Edward Ingham

A room temperature tensile test using thin films taken from the outside and inside surface of polymer pipes has been developed to study the slow crack growth resistance of ageing PE pipelines via analysis of their strain hardening behaviour. A range of PE materials in service since the early 1970s and 80s are studied,...

Author(s) : Márton Bredács, Andreas Frank, David Nitsche, Andreas Riha, Gerald Pinter

Within this paper the property and lifetime profile of four small diameter PE water pipes for house supply, which were installed between 1968 and 1992 in Vienna and Graz, Austria, were studied. Based on thermo analytical and structure analytical test methods the materials show still expected values for PE even after...

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) : Dr. Dane Chang, Dr. David Marshall, Chris Cox

Plastic pipe applications often require polymers to have adequate abrasion resistance during usage. Although typical polyethylene resins have reasonably good resistance to abrasion and can be broadly used with a variety of chemicals, there are some demanding applications that require a resin with enhanced abrasion and...

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) : David Hill Jean Carmier

A multilayer pipe named Excel Plus® made with a protective inner layer in PVDF was developed by GPS PE Pipe Systems, an Aliaxis group subsidiary. In order to assess, in accelerated mode, the resistance of this pipe against chlorine dioxide, a test sample exposure facility was built at the Aliaxis corporate R&D centre....

Author(s) : Francis R. Costa, Christophe Salles, Anh Tuan Tran, Jeroen Oderkerk and Thomas Hjertberg

Over the years polyethylene has gained preference as the material of choice for water distribution pipes due to its long successful track record offering comparatively lower frequency of leakage, corrosion resistance, flexibility, light weight, easy installation, etc. However, in recent years, there have been growing...