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PVC pipe design 2

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Weldinspect

Mechanical
Feb 13, 2010
204
To design an above ground PVC, ambient temperature pipeline can I asume that all segments could have fixed supports? so as I would not need special software but only design the segments as structures. And for water what standards should I use for the structural design?. Thank you

 
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Structural design of supports should comply with your local building code. When full of water, pipe spans for PVC pipe must be limited to relatively short lengths. Deflection between supports can be a significant problem and could interfere with low pressure flows and draining.

Exposed PVC pipe, even in ambient temperature ranges in most parts of the world, can have a very high thermal expansion rate. You should probably have sliding supports in most places, or be sure that "snaking" of the pipe can be accomodated. Allow for appropriate lateral displacements where ends of pipe segments are fixed. You might even consider laying on a continuous, channel-type, beam spanning between pipe supports, if pipe supports are far apart. [o <--rotate 90[&deg;] left.
 
I'm not really sure what your question / point is so lets break it down a bit.

To design an above ground PVC, ambient temperature pipeline can I assume that all segments could have fixed supports?
Yes you could, though I'm not sure what you mean by "segments". Bits of the pipe?

so as I would not need special software
What sort of sort ware to undertake which part of design?

but only design the segments as structures.
I'm not following you - design of the pipe or design of the supports?

And for water what standards should I use for the structural design?.
What does the contents of the pipe have to do with structural supports / design? If you mean design of the pipe you could probably try some of the AWWA specifications / design documents, but depends on where you are and what you're trying to design.

As BI says PVC still expands quite a bit, has some tendency to creep ( though less than PE) and unless you paint it oruse the right stuff can degrade in UV above ground.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
LI has an important remark: PVC degrades fast in open sunligt.
 
My answers after ... below:

-To design an above ground PVC, ambient temperature pipeline can I assume that all segments could have fixed supports?
Yes you could, though I'm not sure what you mean by "segments". Bits of the pipe?

...I mean the segments between supports. My client said all supports would be fixed so that´s what I quoted, many engineers in my company are experts in structural design

-so as I would not need special software
What sort of software to undertake which part of design?
...the design of the supports is not an issue for us but would be if there are sliding or other types of supports. I´ve seen other colleagues use PipePlus for example that handles all types of supports

-but only design the segments as structures.
I'm not following you - design of the pipe or design of the supports?
...only the mechanical pipeline design

-And for water what standards should I use for the structural design?.
What does the contents of the pipe have to do with structural supports / design? If you mean design of the pipe you could probably try some of the AWWA specifications / design documents, but depends on where you are and what you're trying to design.

...I will check AWWA, thanks. It´s water froma a water treatment facility

And yes I know that PVC degrades with the sun, the client said it would be so. This is something we have to check further

Thank you all


 
I guess there was some misunderstanding with my client, I confirmed with suppliers that PVC would only last one year above ground under the sun so it should be buried and I was advised to use ASTM D2241.

 
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