The U.S. City’s Resilient Solution

This presentation will provide the audience with a better understanding of the seismic benefits of high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) through Water Research Foundation report #4408. This report written by John Edinger and Craig Davis of the Water Research Foundation in 2012. The report addresses earthquakes and the implications for U.S. water utilities. Three major seismic events are investigated in this report: Christchurch, NZ, Concepcion, Chile, and Sendai, Japan. No known breaks of HDPE pipe were found as a result of these earthquakes. The outstanding seismic performance of HDPE demonstrates its behavior below-ground. Therefore, it’s important for design engineers to understand its burial properties and attributes. AWWA’s M-55 Design Window (updated for 2018) and ASTM D2774 are essential for burial design of HDPE which will be covered in this talk. These tools provide information on minimum depth of cover and maximum depth of cover along with installation guidelines. The M-55 tool conversation will provide pertinent information for engineers designing HDPE projects. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of burial design of HDPE with dynamic loading after a review of Water Research Foundation’s (WRF) report, (ASTM) D2774, and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) M-55 Design Window. HDPE offers a leak-free monolithic pipeline system for U.S. and Canadian utilities.