CE 133

CONSTRUCTION METHODS
Construction
Methods
These are the Construction Methods
used in Geopipes:

1. Subgrade Preparation

2. Connections

3. Placement

4. Backfilling Operations
 1. SUBGRADE PREPARATION
Plastic Pipe is usually placed in a prepared
trench or within other prepared subgrade materials. If
soil is the subgrade, as it usually is, the compaction
should be 95% of Standard Proctor compaction so as to
minimize the deformation of the pipe in service.
Pipe trenches are often overexcavated so that bedding
soil of cohesionless nature can bring the grade up to
the plan elevation. Sufficient trench length should be
available such that pipe laying can continue in a
uniform manner. Decisions related to such factors
(stability and sloughing) will depend greatly on:
1. soil type
2. depth of trench
.
If the pipe is to be placed directly on a
geomembrane ( as in the leachate system), the
full depth drainage stone should be placed
before pipe installation. Small excavations of at
least the diameter of the pipe are then made,
and then the pipe is placed in these shallow
excavations.
Underground Installation Methods for Plastic
Pipes by various organizations:
1. ASTM D2774 Underground Installation of
Thermoplastic Pressure Piping
2. ASTM F481 Standard Practice for
Installation of Thermoplastic Pipe and Fittings
3. AWWA M23 PVC Pipe Design and
Installation
4. PPI TR8 Installation Procedures for
Polyethelyne Plastic Pipe
5. PPI TR31 Underground Installation of
Polyolefin Piping
2. CONNECTIONS
These are the 4 methods in Geopipe
End Connections

1. Butt welding method is used for

thick-walled HDPE pipe and is exactly
the same as that used in the natural gas
pipe industry (ASTM D2657)
2. Electric-socket welding is similar to
butt welding. In contrast, PVC pipe is
usually chemically seamed using a
solvent on the pipe ends before
pressure joining them together
(ASTMD2672)
3. Screw connection - can only be made if the
plastic pipe thickness is adequate to form or
machine the pipe ends to accept one another.
To make a tight connection, gaskets are
sometimes used, which reside in slotted seats
of the thicker section of the connection. To
make a leak-free connection it is possible to
extrusion seam the outside separation for
smaller diameter pipe and the inside for very
large diameter pipe.
4. Sleeve couplings - are used to connect the
ends of all profiled wall pipe and some solid
wall pipe. Each of these couplings must be
mated to the type of pipe for which they are
designed.
4. PLACEMENT

The placement of plastic pipe in a prepared

trench, after it has been seamed into an
essentially continuous length, is very rapid
and straightforward. The major considerations
that must be addressed is ambient
temperature. Plastic pipe will expand and
contract in direct relationship to the
temperature and the pipe’s material
coefficient of linear expansion or contraction.
5. BACKFILLING OPERATIONS
1. Primary backfill -is important and requires special
care in its placement in the haunch areas beneath the
pipe

-usually granular soil with adequate fines to provide

good placement stability

- if soil is not placed beneath the pipe, there will be

voids, and when the pipes will be loaded, the voids will
cause the pipe to deform

-the backfill soil cannot contain oversized materials

2. secondary backfill
- provides support and load transfer to the top
of the pipe and support for the subsequent
backing operations
- the soil type is often one grade class lower
than the primary backfill
- the thickness of this layer should be at least
half of the diameter of the pipe itself and
preferably equal to the diameter
-can be mechanized but never on a lift
thickness less than 300mm