Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2010 Vancouver
K.Oliphant
Polyethylene (PE) piping materials have been used in potable water applications for more than 50 years with considerable success and have enjoyed a consistently high satisfaction rating from Water Utilities. Since the introduction of these first materials, material performance has evolved significantly. To demonstrate and validate the long-term performance of these newer materials, the industry has been proactively working to develop accelerated test and analysis methodologies through the last decade. This article provides a summary of the current state of those efforts, detailing the mechanisms of long-term aging of PE materials in potable water applications and reporting on a methodology to project long-term performance of PE piping materials in potable water applications. It is seen that a relatively complete picture of the mechanisms of long-term aging has been developed along with methodologies for characterizing this performance. For the Case Study utilities examined, the current models project that high performance PE piping materials can conservatively provide greater than 100 years resistance to chlorine and chloramines treated potable water through the vast majority of potable water systems when properly designed and installed. The models also explain the performance observed in the limited instances where performance issues in small diameter service line tubing have been observed in terms of the specific aggressiveness of those applications.
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