As Aqua-Pipe water main lining is being installed in more and more major cities across the U.S. and Canada, the benefits keep expanding beyond its original purpose which was to revolutionize and modernize the way municipalities conduct repairs on their aging water main infrastructure. The introduction of Aqua-Pipe’s trenchless solution quickly demonstrated that not only does it reduce the cost of water main repair and disruption to the community, the lining itself is also able to withstand significant stressors due to soil deformation and seismic activities, all while maintaining its integrity and internal water pressure.
The question became just how much force could Aqua-Pipe withstand, and could this technology actually protect water main integrity in cities with active seismic activity? And so the testing began at Cornell University’s world-class Geotechnical Lifelines Large-Scale Testing Facility in upstate New York. Using real jointed sections of deteriorating iron pipe removed from a current-day construction project in downtown Los Angeles, the team of geo-scientists lined the pipes with the Aqua-Pipe product and recreated scenarios that mimicked typical stressors like rotation and bending at the pipe joints.
Using real jointed sections of deteriorating iron pipe removed from a current-day construction project in downtown Los Angeles, the team of geo-scientists lined the pipes with the Aqua-Pipe product and recreated scenarios that mimicked typical stressors like rotation and bending at the pipe joints.
The results were astonishing: Not only did the Aqua-Pipe sections maintain integrity throughout the most common type of excess rotation event, it held strong after the joint itself ruptured at the 12-degree rotation point without any water loss. Even more amazing, the next test ratcheted up the rotation to an incredible 20-degrees (an additional 8-degrees past rupture point) and Aqua-Pipe withstood this force with no leaks, no water loss and no loss of pressure. The significance of these findings is far reaching for cities and towns across North America facing urgent water main infrastructure repair decisions, and Aqua-Pipe is the answer.
For a more detailed technical and scientific results report on these tests, please contact Ben Cote at 450 466-2123 or toll free at 1 800 263-7870.