Gas & Water
Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2006 Washington DC
MacKellar
In 2002 UK Water Industry Research Ltd commissioned Bodycote PDL to collate and maintain a database of all water main failures in the UK and develop a protocol for data collection of failure information. Despite the huge disparity in the data formats from each company this has been achieved and maintenance of the database is ongoing. The database now contains around 500,000 mains failure records covering over 95% of the UK companies for the period around 1995 onwards. The database includes mains lengths for each material and diameter to allow the generation of the proper comparisons of failure rates. Whilst analysis of the database trends does not form a significant part of the work, interesting seasonal observations on failure patterns for asbestos cement, PVC and PE compared to Cast Iron can be seen. A case study of how one UK water utility was able to use the National Mains Failure Database to demonstrate to the industry regulator that it had a specific problem with old (pre 1985) PVC pipelines and plan for a replacement strategy is described. UKWIR – NATIONAL MAINS FAILURE DATABASE
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Author(s) : MacKellar, Lowe, Ingham, Ashdown
Polyethylene (PE) is the preferred material for 90% of all water mains laid in the UK. The pace of renovation of dilapidated cast iron water networks has led to the increasing demand for coils of flexible PE pipe, driven by the efficiency of using less joints and taking up considerably less space in the congested...
Author(s) : MacKellar, Headford, Ingham
This paper provides an overview of the basic properties of plastic pipes, in the range 50mm to 400mm, and how these should be used in the design of above ground process pipe systems made of PE and PVC. It covers the basic properties of plastics, examples of the determination of load cases and describes the basic types...
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