By Dr. Ali Abolmaali, P.E.

At the University of Texas at Arlington, we have been conducting structural failure analysis on the HDPE pipes in several diverse locations throughout the United States.

Field data identifies several failure modes including excessive deformation; buckling; joint separation; cracking; snap-through (inverse curvature); and corrugation growth.

A field study of more than 90 installed pipes indicates that the HDPE pipes exhibited multiple failure modes as described. Particularly, the maximum deformations in excess of 5 percent limit were observed in the majority of the pipes with maximum values as high as 22 percent in some cases. The circumferential and longitudinal buckling failure modes, along with the corrugation growth, were also observed in the pipes throughout the study.

Dr. Ali Abolmaali, P.E., is an associate professor in structural engineering and applied mechanics at the University of Texas at Arlington and the director of the new UTA Center for Structural Engineering Research (CSER).