Issues Facing The Polyolefin Pipe Industry

1
Issues Facing The Polyolefin Pipe Industry

• Tom Walsh
• Walsh Consulting Services
• February 28, 2007

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Major Issues - 1997

• Durability of Drainage Piping
• Chlorine Resistance for Hot Water Pipe
• Industrial Piping
• Plastic Auto Fuel Lines and Fuel Systems
• Durability of Plastic Fittings, Valves and Pumps
• New Structural Composite Piping Products
• Standardizing Fusion Joining Techniques
• Pipe Marking
• New Technologies for Locating Plastic Pipe
• Trenchless Pipeline Rehabilitation Technologies
• Buried Pipe Design Limitations

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Major Issues - 2007

• Durability of New Composite Piping Materials
• Pipe Design Criteria
• Drainage Piping Applications
• Elevated Temperature Piping Applications
• Joining Technologies
• Trenchless Pipeline Rehabilitation Technologies
• Industrial Piping Applications
• Plastic Fittings, Valves and Pumps
• Markings
• Technologies for Locating Plastic Pipe

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Composite Piping Materials

• PIPING PRODUCTS
• Fiberglass Reinforced Thermoset Pipe
• Centrifugal Cast Sand Thermoset Mortar Pipe
• Multilayer Composite Pipe
• Short Glass Fiber Reinforced Pipe
• Carbon Fiber Reinforced Pipe
• Metal Multilayer Composite Pipe and Tubing
• Continuous Glass Fiber Reinforced Thermoset Pipe
• Aluminum and Steel Reinforced Composite Pipe

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Composite Piping Materials

• ISSUES
• Introduction of new composite piping products
• Inadequate testing prior to introduction
• Inadequate understanding of failure mechanisms
  for composite materials
• Demanding service conditions
• Much higher operating pressures (1500 vs 100 psi)
• Downhole oil and gas production piping
  applications
• Offshore
• Lack of a recognized review process to establish
  suitability of these new products
• Lack of a recognized reviewing body to certify or
  recommend product listings

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Composite Piping Materials

• ISSUES
• Susceptibility of multilayer composite piping to
  different failure processes
• Durability of individual components of complex
  systems not well established
• Sizing chemicals on fiber reinforcements
• Compatibilizer chemicals to increase interfacial
  bonding
• Adhesive chemicals to bond different layers of
  materials
• Adhesion of different layers or different
  components of complex products
• Durability of joining systems
• Flanged joints
• Overlapped joints
• Mechanical Joints
• Electrofusion joints

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Pipe Design Criteria

• ISSUES
• Design/Safety Factors
• New classes of PE pipe materials allows new
  design criteria
• Water Pipe
• Design Factor 0.50 vs 0.63 for new grades
• Gas Distribution Pipe
• Design Factor 0.32 vs 0.40 for new grades
• Higher Maximum Allowable Operating Pressures for
  Gas
• Higher Standard Dimension Ratio Pipe (thinner
  walls)
• Pipe Stiffness
• Strain Limitations in Deflection
• Buckling Resistance

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Drainage Piping Applications

• PIPING PRODUCTS
• Corrugated HDPE Piping
• PVC Solid Wall Piping
• Corrugated PVC Piping
• Ribbed PVC Piping
• Spiral Wound Steel Reinforced Corrugated HDPE
  Piping
• Spiral Wound Steel Rib Reinforced Ribbed HDPE
  Piping
• Steel cable reinforced PE and PP Piping
• Spiral Wound PVC Piping
• Spiral Wound HDPE Piping
• Solid Wall HDPE Piping

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Drainage Piping Applications

• ISSUES
• Long term performance and durability
• Short term testing methods
• Material Characterizations and Qualifications
• Product Characterizations and Qualifications
• Quality Control and Quality Analysis Testing
• Engineering Design Criteria
• Pipe Stiffness
• Resistance to Buckling
• Introduction of new composite drainage pipe
  products
• Use of recycled plastics

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Elevated Temperature Piping Applications

• PIPING PRODUCTS
• Crosslinked Polyethylene (PEX) piping
• Chlorinated Polyvinylchloride (CPVC) piping
• Multilayer aluminum core piping
• PEX/AL/PEX
• PE/AL/PE
• Multilayer Oxygen Barrier PEX Piping
• PEX/EVOH/PEX
• High Temperature PE materials (PE-RT)
• Specialty Nylons (PA-11 and PA-12)
• Fluoropolymers (PTFE, PVDF, PFA)

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Elevated Temperature Piping Applications

• PIPING APPLICATIONS
• Hot Water Plumbing Piping
• Radiant Heating - Hydronic Pipe
• Snowmelt Driveway Heating
• Geothermal Piping Applications

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Elevated Temperature Piping Applications

• Issues
• Long Term Testing Criteria
• Resistance to Disinfectants in Potable Water
• Chlorine
• Chloramines
• Ozone
• Durability of Fittings
• Lack of requirements for systems testing (testing
  of pipe and fittings together)

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Elevated Temperature Piping Applications

• ISSUES
• Higher Temperature Chemical Resistant Piping
• Long Term Testing Criteria
• Temperature
• Chemicals Testing
• Engineering Criteria
• Long Term Testing Criteria
• Short Term Test Methods
• Fittings
• Introduction of New Engineering Piping Materials

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Industrial Piping Applications

• PIPING PRODUCTS
• High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
• Polypropylene (PP)
• Chlorinated Polyvinylchloride (CPVC)
• Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF)
• Tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
• Perfluory alkoxy (PFA)

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Industrial Piping Applications

• INDUSTRIAL PIPING APPLICATIONS
• Slurry Piping in Mining
• Piping for Heap Leachate Mining
• Chemical Process Piping
• Corrosive Waste Drainage Piping
• Corrosion Resistant Chemicals Piping
• Factory Mutual Fire Supply Piping
• Ultra High Purity Piping for Semi-Conductor
  Industry

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Industrial Piping Applications

• ISSUES
• Elevated Temperature Service Conditions
• Chemical Resistance
• Non-destructive test methods to determine degree
  of attack by aggressive chemicals and
  environmental factors
• Development of New Test Methods to Evaluate
  Resistance to Environmental Attack
• Oxidation
• Ultra-violet Light
• Chemical and Physical Attack
• Thermal Degradation

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Plastic Fittings, Valves and Pumps

• Types of Fittings
• Injection Molded Fittings
• Butt Fusion Fittings and Couplings
• Socket Fittings
• Saddle Fittings
• Stub End - End Cap Fittings
• Fabricated Fittings
• Electrofusion Fittings
• Insert Fittings
• Mechanical Fittings

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Plastic Fittings, Valves and Pumps

• ISSUES
• Design process for plastic fittings, valves and
  pumps
• Long Term Performance Testing
• Short Term Testing Criteria
• Computerized Service Life Projections
• Development of Better Models to Predict Time
  Dependent Aging for Plastic Materials
• Development of Better Knowledge of Failure
  Mechanisms

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Joining Technologies for Plastic Piping

• Fusion Welding
• Electrofusion Joining
• Mechanical Joining
• Ultrasonic Welding
• Gasketed Joining
• Solvent Cementing (not applicable to polyolefins)

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Joining Technologies for Plastic Piping

• ISSUES
• Fusion Welding
• Fusion between different PE materials
• Introduction of new PE materials (PE100 and
  others)
• Differences between North American and European
  accepted fusion welding procedures
• Introduction of new fusion procedures
• Fusion of different PP piping
• Fusion joining of PEX piping

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Joining Technologies for Plastic Piping

• ISSUES
• Electrofusion Joining
• Mechanical Joining
• Effect of pull out forces due to thermal
  contraction
• Effect of cyclic stresses on mechanical joints
• Gasketed Joining
• Lack of long term testing requirements on gasket
  materials
• Effect of chemicals on gaskets in gas piping
• Ultrasonic Welding
• Very little experience in piping applications
• Solvent Cementing
• not applicable to polyolefins

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Technologies for Marking Plastic Pipe and Fittings

• Printing
• Digital Printing
• Bar Codes
• Hot Stamping
• Laser Marking
• Labels

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Technologies for Marking Plastic Pipe and Fittings

• ISSUES
• Durability of Identifying Markings
• Requirements for durable markings on fittings,
  valves and pumps
• Durability of Labels on fittings

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Technologies for Locating Plastic Pipe

• Tracer Wires
• Ground penetrating radar
• Magnetic filled pipe

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Technologies for Pipeline Rehabilitation

• Slip-Lining
• Cured-in-Place Thermoset Pipe
• Deformed and Reformed Pipe
• Segmented Pipe
• New Techniques for Rehabilitation of Laterals
• Methods for Making Remote Taps and Lateral
  Connnections

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Technologies for Pipeline Rehabilitation

• ISSUES
• Slip-Lining
• Effects of surface damage during installation
• Effects on long term durability of pulling forces
• Deformed and Reformed Pipe
• Effects of installation pulling forces on long
  term durability
• Buckling resistance
• Cured-in-Place Thermoset Pipe
• Permeability of CIPP liners to corrosive
  chemicals
• Are CIPP pipes structural pipes or non-structural
  liners
• Long term durability of CIPP
• Durability of CIPP liners to offset separations
  and deterioration of the host pipe

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Technologies for Pipeline Rehabilitation

• ISSUES
• Segmented Pipe
• Buckling resistance
• Joining of individual segments
• Lateral Rehabilitation
• New products and processes being introduced
• Methods for Making Remote Taps
• Methods for Making Lateral Connections