Over 500 water, wastewater and reuse pipeline installations completed
Overview
Texas municipalities have long been known for their use of trenchless installation methods. Engineers and contractors have been taking advantage of the social and economic benefits of trenchless installation for many years. Until 2004, the primary pipe material used for trenchless applications in water, sewer and water reuse projects was high-density polyethylene (HDPE). With the introduction of Fusible PVC® pipe, owners, design engineers and contractors now have the alternative of a thermally butt-fused PVC pipe system with all of the advantages and familiarity of AWWA C900/C905 PVC pipe. With PVC pipe already widely used in many utility systems, Fusible PVC® pipe allows utilities to maintain material continuity when constructing trenchless installations or direct bury applications requiring a fused thermoplastic pipe system.
A growing list of Texas municipalities and utilities have achieved significant savings by utilizing Fusible PVC® pipe systems while realizing the benefits of a leak-free, fully-restrained, fused PVC pipe system that is easy to maintain. Many municipalities that
have installed Fusible PVC® pipe have become repeat customers and have incorporated the technology into their standard specifications. Whether drilling in clay and sand along the Gulf Coast, or rock formations in North Texas, Fusible PVC® pipe has
demonstrated its ability to handle installation challenges.Over 500 water, wastewater and reuse pipeline installations completed Fusible PVC® pipe offers many advantages that lower overall project and maintenance costs, including:
- Inside diameter (ID) matches the ID of bell-and-spigot PVC pipe, so there is no need to upsize to maintain hydraulics
- Tensile strength of 7,000 psi is 2.5 times higher than the other thermoplastic pipe option
- Superior strength to weight ratio for equivalent ID and pressure class
- Hydrostatic design basis with 2.0 factor of safety
- Standard ductile iron pipe size outside diameter allows seamless connection compatibility with standard ductile iron fittings
Underground Solutions, Inc. provides infrastructure technologies for water, wastewater
and power cable conduit applications. Underground Solutions’ Fusible PVC® pipe
products, including Fusible C-900® pipe, Fusible C-905® pipe and FPVC® pipe, utilize
patented technology to produce a fused monolithic, fully-restrained, gasket-free, leakfree piping system ideal for trenchless (horizontal directional drilling, pipe bursting and sliplining) or conventional “open-cut” installations and are available in 4-inch to 36-inch diameters. The combination of standard fittings and lower weight with higher flow for a given pressure class versus other thermoplastic pipes ensures that Fusible PVC® pipe brings greater economy to most pipeline projects.