Comparing Short-Term Performance of Corrugated HDPE Pipe Made with or without Recycled Resins for Transportation Infrastructure Applications
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 2
Abstract
In recent years, corrugated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes manufactured from recycled resins have been on the rise for infrastructure sectors as a result of their numerous advantages. Compared to HDPE pipes made with virgin resins, these recycled pipes help solve the problem of plastic-waste management and the environmental impacts of waste. In addition, using recycled materials makes HDPE pipe more sustainable and cost effective. One question stands out: Will HDPE pipes made with recycled resins have the same performance and durability as virgin pipes under the impact of thermal stress during the burial process, environmental variations, and traffic load? This issue needs to be clarified because the demand for recycled pipes is increasing. The aim of this paper is to improve the knowledge to compare the short-term performance of these two types of pipes. The specimens came from four different North American manufacturers with their own production processes. This study provides more detailed data on physicochemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of HDPE pipes. These properties were tested on laboratory equipment according to ASTM standards. The test results can be used to estimate some aspects of the long-term characteristics of HDPE pipes.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research received financial support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the NSERC Research Chair in Innovative FRP Reinforcement for Sustainable Concrete Infrastructures, the Tier-1 Canada Research Chair in Composite Materials for Civil structures, the Fonds Québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT), the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec (MTQ), and the University of Sherbrooke Research Centre on Composite Materials (CRUSMaC). The authors are also grateful to the technical staff of the structural laboratory at the University of Sherbrooke, especially Jérôme Lacroix and Steven MacEachern, for their technical assistance.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 2 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 19, 2021
Accepted: Jun 8, 2021
Published online: Nov 22, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Apr 22, 2022
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