Residual Stress Effects on the Stress Crack Resistance of HDPE Corrugated Drainage Geopipe

Adequate stress crack resistance (SCR) is critical to the long-term behavior of high density polyethylene (HDPE) materials. In the current notched constant ligament stress (NCLS) test (ASTM F 2136), the evaluation of SCR of corrugated drainage HDPE pipe employs remolded plaques in cutting the appropriate test specimens. Thus, the residual stresses embedded in the final product by the manufacturing process are excluded from the SCR assessment. Since the residual stresses may have a profound effect on SCR, specimens cut directly from the manufactured pipes are being adopted for the test. Still at an early stage, the results included in this paper represent an ongoing study.