Validation of the Long Life of PVC Pipes

Author(s) : Steven Folkman

A recent survey again confirms that PVC pipe has the lowest break rate when compared with break rates of ductile and cast iron, asbestos cement, steel, and concrete pipe. Other results of interest to water utilities and engineers are discussed. During 2017, Utah State University conducted a survey of utilities across...

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) : Davidovski Zoran

To get a deeper insight in why plastic pipes systems in some cases are deselected by designers, installers and users, European Plastics Pipes and Fittings Association (TEPPFA) initiated a research including interviews in four pilot countries: Poland, France, Germany and the UK. The first phase was concentrating on...

Author(s) : Joerg Fischer, Paul J. Freudenthaler, Patrick R. Bradler, Reinhold W. Lang, Susan C. Mantell

This research addresses the effect of nucleation on the global aging behavior and the fatigue crack growth (FCG) resistance of commercial alpha- and beta-nucleated polypropylene random copolymer pipe grades (PP-R) when exposed to chlorinated water (5 mg/l free chlorine) at an elevated temperature of 60°C. Comparing...

Author(s) : John Kurdziel, Michael Pluimer

Corrugated HDPE pipes have been successfully used for decades for sewers, culverts and land drainage applications and are advantageous due to their durability and service life in a variety of installation conditions. Pipes used for highway and storm sewer applications typically require stricter material standards than...

Author(s) : Joerg Fischer, Patrick R. Bradler, Reinhold W. Lang

In the present paper, a novel test system for conducting fatigue crack growth (FCG) experiments under superimposed mechanical-environmental conditions is presented. FCG experiments were performed on a polypropylene (PP) grade and a short-glass fiber reinforced polyamide 66 (PA-GF) grade as model materials. The...

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) : Ilari Aho, Volker Meyer, Peter Sejersen

The lack of a cross-border acceptance of the approval of the hygienic requirements for plastic pipes systems is inefficient and expensive for the industry. The costs for testing of a pipe system range from a few thousand Euro to more than €30k /reference 3, 4/. The European Plastic Pipe and Fitting Association...

Author(s) : Sarah Eisenstat, Peter Dyke

Many cities in the US are operating their water utility on a “manage to fail” basis, meaning they are replacing >100-year-old pipes at a cycle time of over 150 years. At this rate, most of the pipes will have failed before they can be replaced. Ft. Wayne, IN made the realization that PE pipe is the solution due to its...

Author(s) : Marc van Loo (Dr.), Constant Van Aerschot, KumHoong Lou

In many parts of rural developing Asia and even some parts of Africa, sewerage from households is often discharged directly to the surrounding. This unfortunate fact means that many waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid continue to afflict these communities. Numerous efforts from governments,...

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) : 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) : J.D. Kim, S. Kim , T. Schmutz, C. Malchaire, D. Scholz, K. Keck

Since a few years, pipe producers are facing the challenge to protect their plastic pipe from degradation due to chlorine dioxide. Unfortunately, most existing stabilization solutions are not effective enough to insure the desired lifetime of the material. This study shows how the latest development allow to top-up...

Author(s) : K. Moita

East Bay Municipal Utility District (District) provides water and wastewater services to the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The District’s potable water system serves approximately 1.4 million customers in a 332-square-mile area that spans portions of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The...

Author(s) : Andrew Wedgner, Muhammad Qasim, Arsenio Sembrano

Developments in material and pipe extrusion technology now enable converters to produce PE100 solid wall pipes of up to 2,800mm OD, but the use of such large diameters has been limited to industrial applications. This is now starting to change with water transmission pipelines of up to 1400mm OD being laid in the UAE...

Author(s) : Farraj Tashman, Mohamed Ali Jaber, Sultan Al Kendi

Analysis of subsea PE100 pipeline conveying oil produced water effluent with traces of hydrocarbons was done after 5 years of leak-tight continuous operation at boundary conditions showed that properties of PE100 pipes are intact when benchmarked with test results conducted on reference pipe sample kept for this...

Author(s) : Ludo Debever, Peter Sejersen, Carolin Spirinckx

Until today there are various ways of demonstrating the Environmental Performance of products, such as Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Life Cycle Impact Assessments (LCIA), Environmental Performance Declarations (EPDs). The methods to obtain the result, however, can vary from country to country and can be interpreted...

Author(s) : Douglas D. Keller

This paper describes the successful collaboration of a regulator, pipe producer and PE material supplier to demonstrate the conformance of pipes produced with inline extrusion compound to the requirement of the Chilean water pipe normative NCh398/1.Of2004 and also to the performance requirements of ISO 4427:2007 parts...

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) : Hirofumi Kyutoku, Kazuhisa Igawa, Hidekazu Honma, Sakiko Fukunishi, Hiroyuki Nishimura

There are mainly two grades of polyethylene pipes for hot water supply and heating. The excellent molecular structure polyethylene resins having resistance to stress crack growth are used because hot water is flowed for a long time in both polyethylene pipes. Furthermore, various additives are mixed to prevent the...