Graduation Semester and Year

2012

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Mohammad Najafi

Abstract

The current and forecasted major challenge faced by water utilities is delivering potable water efficiently with minimum loss to end users. Water pipe failure has negative impact not only local communities but also on the nation's economy. The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has estimated that it will cost over $250 billion to replace and renew the nation's water pipes over the next 20 years. According to the 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Report Card, seven billion gallons of water are lost in this country every day!Every pipe has unique properties with advantages and limitations. During a pipe's life cycle, failures occur due to numerous factors such as age, loading conditions, environmental conditions, installation quality, manufacturing procedures, operation and maintenance strategies and so on. The very limited information on High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes created the need for this research. This thesis is a preliminary step towards understanding the HDPE pipe performance for lower and larger pipe size diameters. To achieve the objectives of this research, a nationwide survey was carried out. For the respondent utilities, the average annual failure rate for the smaller diameter pipe is 0.5 per 100 miles. Most frequent causes of failures occurring in small diameter pipes were due to joint failure. Due to lack of enough large diameter HDPE pipe respondents, the results were not conclusive

Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering | Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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