U-Tech U n d e r g r o u n d
Cutting Edge Technical Information For Utility Construction & Rehabilitation
Thermoplastics At Work
A Comprehensive Review Of Municipal PVC Piping Products
By Shah Rahman, EIT, Regional Vice President, Underground Solutions, Inc.
Technological advances in the piping
industry over the course of a century
have made wooden pipes and brick sew-
ers a concept of the past, while opening
the door to better engineered piping
products which provide the user with
more cost-effective solutions. Traditional
piping materials for water and sewer sys-
tems are steadily being replaced by mod-
ern materials which provide better per-
formance, ease of installation, and over-
all, a better “bang for the buck.”
Environmental effects such as corro-
sion pose a dramatic threat to the buried
pipe infrastructure in North America. It
has been estimated in a study performed
by the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) that corrosion accounts for
more than $36 billion of loss annually in
water and sewer systems throughout
the U.S.
Today, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a
thermoplastic material, is the most wide-
ly used product in water and sewer sys-
tems in the U.S. and Canada. This article
will provide design engineers and speci-
fiers with an information base on various
PVC pressure and gravity piping stan-
dards and products, for open-cut and
trenchless construction and rehabilita-
tion. The contents should contribute to
the decision-making process for standard
and product selection when PVC has
been specified or is under consideration.
Other pertinent information such as
available joint-types is also discussed.
Plastic pipes
The availability of plastic pipe in the
late 1950’s in North America was the
beginning of an industry that would
eventually revolutionize the field of
municipal water and sewer piping.
Plastics are formed by the polymeriza-
tion of molecules containing hydrogen
and carbon. The three main types of
plastic pipes widely in use in North
America include polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), high density polyethylene
(HDPE), and glass-reinforced pipe (GRP,
also called fiberglass pipe). PVC and
HDPE fall into the group of thermoplas-
tics, while GRP is a thermoset pipe. The
56 Underground Construction October 2004 www.undergroundconstructiononline.com
T e c h n o l o g y
unique quality of thermoplastics enable
them to be heated, processed, formed
and reshaped many times, without any
permanent changes taking place in the
material’s physical/mechanical proper-
ties. Thermoset plastics on the other
hand, are processed by a combination of
chemicals and heat, and once formed,
can not be reshaped.
Thermoplastics, such as PVC used in
pipe manufacture, are referred to as rigid
plastics. The term rigid indicates that
these materials do not contain any plasti-
cizers, which would make them more
ductile, and hence unsuitable for buried
municipal applications. Both thermoplas-
tic and thermoset pipes are flexible con-
duits (the pipe/soil interaction is identi-
cal) and are designed accordingly.
Properties of viscoelastic
materials
Thermoplastics such as PVC are vis-
coelastic. Viscoelastic materials exhibit
elastic as well as viscous-like characteris-
tics. A material that deforms under
stress, but regains its original shape and
size when the load is removed is classi-
fied as elastic. Viscous materials, on the
other hand, after being subjected to a
deforming load, do not recover their orig-
inal shape and size once the load is
removed. In reality, all materials deviate
from the linear relationship between
stress and strain (Hooke’s Law) at some
point in various ways.
Defining the direct relationship
between stress and strain when a load is
applied to a material is the most common
way to evaluate the strength of that
material. Graph A in Figure 1 illustrates
the linear relationship between stress-
strain in elastic materials. In an ideal
elastic material, strain returns to zero as
soon as the material is unloaded, and the
linear relationship is not typically time-
dependent. But it should be noted that in
all materials, this behavior is valid only
up to a certain stress point, called the
yield point, after which the strain in the
material will increase dramatically by
creep, before finally failing.
In the set of curves, B, in Figure 1, it can
be seen that the stress-strain relationship
is somewhat different for viscoelastic
materials than it is for elastic materials.
Clearly, you can no longer see a directly
linear relationship between stress-strain,
and the gradients of the curves depend
on the loading time. In other words, for a
given stress level, the longer the loading
time, the larger the strain reached. Creep
is defined as continuing deformation
(increasing strain) with time when the
material is subjected to a constant stress.
The consequence of creep is that failure
of the material will occur after load is
applied for a certain amount of time. So
time dependency is a major factor to con-
sider in viscoelastic material behavior.
An important fact is that the time to
failure is inversely proportional to the
applied stress. In thermoplastic pressure
pipe, it is therefore possible to find and
apply a stress level that is low enough to
ensure that the theoretical time to failure
will surpass the design life of the
pipeline.
Figure 1: Stress-Strain Relationship in Elastic
and Viscoelastic Materials.
In thermoplastic pipe applications,
creep is not free, but is prevented
because the deflection of the pipe is
kept constant, as is the case in buried
PVC gravity (or pressure) pipe.
Consequently, it can be seen from
Figure 1 that the initial stress decreases
with time, and is referred to as the relax-
ation property of thermoplastic piping
materials. These basic properties of vis-
coelastic materials such as PVC and
HDPE enable engineers to design
pipelines that ensure both structural
integrity and the long-term design life of
their municipal piping systems.
Manufacture
In 2000, more than five billion pounds of
PVC resin was used in the manufacture of
PVC pressure and gravity pipe. A vinyl
chloride molecule is comprised of carbon,
hydrogen, and chlorine, configured as
shown in Figure 2a. PVC is obtained by
polymerization of single units of the vinyl
chloride molecule, which join to create
long chains, Figure 2b, and ultimately
form PVC resin, Figure 2c.
PVC pipe is manufactured by first
blending the resin with stabilizers, pig-
ments, lubricants, processing aids and
functional additives, and heating this
mixture to a temperature in the 400
degree F range. This causes the compo-
nents to properly fuse and convert into a
malleable state. In this molten form, the
material is mechanically extruded into
pipe, whereby the pipe meets the physi-
cal/mechanical properties outlined in var-
ious ASTM, AWWA and other standards.
Following the completion of the extru-
sion process, the pipe is allowed to cool,
after which QA/QC testing is performed
per requirements of the standards to
which they are made, before final deliv-
ery to the end user.
Figure 2a, b, c: Vinyl Chloride Molecule, PVC
Chain, Resin.
The Plastic Pipe Institute’s document
TR-2/2004, PPI PVC Range Composition
Listing of Qualified Ingredients, lists the
Hydrostatic Stress Board’s (HSB) allow-
able content of various ingredients for
PVC pipe manufacture as defined by a
minimum/maximum range. These lists
are compiled through results of extensive
industry-wide testing. In the earliest days
of PVC pipe manufacture, each PVC com-
position was a fixed and very specific
composition, with the use level and iden-
www.undergroundconstructiononline.com October 2004 Underground Construction 57
tity of each ingredient clearly “spelled
out.” This is no longer the case; the list-
ings of PPI TR-2 now enable manufactur-
ers to produce pipe formulated within
the allowable minimum/maximum ingre-
dient ranges; consequently, it is likely
that no two manufacturers have the iden-
tical formulation. This is a result of the
search for more effective and less costly
sources of ingredients. The ultimate goal
is to produce pipe that meets all the
requirements of the standards to which
they are made.
Basic PVC properties
The basic properties of PVC compounds
are outlined in ASTM D1784, Standard
Specification for Rigid Poly (Vinyl
Chloride) (PVC) and Chlorinated Poly
(Vinyl Chloride) (CPVC) Compounds.
The specification defines a five-digit cell
class designation system that describes
minimum characteristics for a particular
compound. The five designated proper-
ties include: base resin, Izod impact
strength, tensile strength, elastic modu-
Thermoplastics At Work
lus in tension and deflection temperature
under loading.
For example, in the cell classification
12454, the third digit, 4, indicates that
the pipe has a minimum tensile strength
of 7,000 psi. The fourth digit, 5, indicates
a minimum modulus of elasticity in ten-
sion of 400,000 psi. Similarly, a pipe man-
ufactured to cell classification 12364
would have a minimum tensile strength
of 6,000 psi, and a minimum modulus of
elasticity of 440,000 psi.
All conventional PVC pressure pipe
standards in the U.S. are manufactured
to a cell class of 12454 only, highlighting
the importance of a minimum tensile
strength of 7,000 psi; this is the optimum
value which yields the maximum long-
term strength when factors of safety are
applied to PVC pipes operating under
pressure. Gravity pipe standards on the
other hand are made to both cell class
12454 and 12364. For all practical pur-
poses, gravity pipe manufactured to
either formulation perform very well
under buried conditions.
Types of PVC pipe
There are three distinct types of PVC
pipes manufactured in the world, each
differentiated by either the way in which
it is manufactured (which dictates the
directional orientation of the molecules),
or by the content of modifiers in its
chemical formulation (which affect the
ability of the pipe to withstand large
impacts by absorption and dissipation of
the energy). They include:

PVC-U: Unplasticized PVC is the most
common type of PVC used in the manu-
facture of pipe. That which we refer to
simply as PVC in North America is in fact
unplasticized PVC. The manufacture
process described earlier in this article is
that of PVC-U. The molecular structure
of PVC pipe is a random arrangement of
long chain molecules, where molecular
entanglement is prevalent throughout
the length of the pipe. In general, the
PVC molecules do not exhibit any defi-
nite directional orientation, and there-
fore, a generally uniform strength pre-
vails in both the radial (circumferential)
and longitudinal directions. Testing has
shown that the modulus of elasticity in
fifteen year-old PVC is only slightly high-
er in the longitudinal direction than in
the radial directions.

PVC-O: Molecularly oriented PVC is
made in the U.S. by expansion of conven-
tional PVC pipe; during the expansion
process, the molecules become oriented
in a generally radial or circumferential
direction. This molecular re-orientation
increases the strength of the pipe in the
58 Underground Construction October 2004 www.undergroundconstructiononline.com
hoop direction. Also, the resulting HDB is
increased from 4,000 psi to 7,100 psi.
Consequently, this stronger material can
have a thinner wall than a conventional
PVC pipe of the same pressure capacity.
The manufacture process of PVC-O in the
U.S. is called an Offline Process, while a
second method, the Online Process, is
more widely used in Europe. In the U.S.,
PVC-O if considered a proprietary
product since only one company makes
it. PVC-O pipe is not used in gravity
applications.

PVC-M: Modified PVC is produced by
incorporation of additives or “impact
modifiers” to enhance the toughness of
the material. Resistance to fracture by
absorption and dissipation of energy is
evidence of the toughness of the pipe
material. PVC-M is made and used
mainly in Europe and Australia, while
only one manufacturer in the U.S. pro-
duces this type of pipe for non-buried
applications.
PVC pipe joints
There are various types of joints available
for PVC pressure and gravity pipe stan-
dards, used according to the application

Bell-and-spigot gasket joints: Tra-
ditionally, this has been the joint type
most associated with PVC pressure and
gravity pipe standards used for open-cut
municipal applications. The beveled spig-
ot end of the adjoining pipe is slipped
into the bell up to the guide mark indicat-
ed on the spigot; the elastomeric gasket
is usually prepositioned in the bell and
provides a completely water-tight com-
pression seal, Figure 3.
Figure 3: Elastomeric Gasket-Joint
The elastomeric gaskets are made per
ASTM F477, Elastomeric Seals (Gasket)
for Joining Plastic Pipe. With proper
assembly, there is usually enough of a gap
between the spigot-end and the neck of
the bell to allow for expansion as well as
angular deflection. Gravity pipe and fit-
tings are made and tested to the require-
ments of ASTM D3212, Joints for Drain
and Sewer Plastic Pipes Using Flexible
Elastomeric Seals. Uni-Bell’s Handbook
of PVC Pipe: Design and Construction,
recommends an infiltration/exfiltration
limit of 25 gal/in-dia/mile/day within a
sewer system to account for losses at
manhole connections and through other
appurtenances, not through the pipe
joint itself. Most other gravity pipe mate-
rial industries encourage infiltration/
exfiltration limits in the 200 gal/in-
dia/mile/day range.
ASTM D3139, Joints for Plastic
Pressure Pipes Using Flexible
Elastomeric Seals, is typically the stan-
dard to which PVC pressure pipe joints
are made and tested. AWWA C605,
Underground Installation of Polyvinyl
Chloride (PVC) Pressure Pipe and
Fittings for Water, also provides guide-
lines for post-installation testing of PVC
pressure pipe systems for potable water
distribution and transmission.

Fusible Joints: Until recently, HDPE
was the only available thermoplastic pipe
option which used butt-fused joints in
North America. In late 2003, the
water/wastewater industry saw the intro-
duction of Fusible PVC/C-900/C-905. A
first of its kind, this product combines a
proprietary formulation with a unique
fusion procedure that allows lengths of
PVC pipe to be joined together in a con-
tinuous string for installation through a
variety of trenchless methods, including
HDD, sliplining, pipebursting, guided
boring, and jack and bore, as well as
direct bury applications. While Fusible
PVC is primarily for non-drinking water
applications like recycled water, force
mains, gravity drains and sewer applica-
tions, Fusible C-900/C-905 are specifical-
ly for use in potable water systems. The
pipes are manufactured to all require-
ments of AWWA C900 and C905, and are
NSF certified. Figure 4 shows a butt-
fused PVC joint.
Figure 4: Butt-Fused Fusible PVC Joint
Fusible PVC pipe manufacture is possi-
ble because of two significant develop-
ments. First, a unique patent pending
formulation which meets all guidelines
for components as detailed in the Plastics
Pipe Institute’s (PPI) Technical Report
No. 2, PPI PVC Range Composition of
Qualified Ingredients — all ingredients in
the formulation meet the qualification
standard. This allows PVC pipe to be
extruded in standard diameters and wall
thicknesses. The pipe exhibits all basic PVC plumbing products, is the threaded, HDB of 4,000 psi. For PVCO (molecular-
characteristics of conventional PVC pipe screw-on type. ASTM D2464, Threaded ly oriented PVC) standards, an HDB of
for pressure capability, tensile strength, Poly (Vinyl Chloride) (PVC) Plastic Pipe 7,100 psi range is used. Due to this differ-
external load capability, etc. —- its cell Fittings, Schedule 80, is an example. ence, PVCO has a thinner wall than PVC
classification is 12454B, per require- There are two proprietary restrained- pipe of the same diameter.
ments of ASTM D1784. joint PVC pipes, TerraBrute and Certa- There are currently five widely used
The second development was the Lok, details of which are provided in PVC pressure pipe standards: ASTM
fusion procedure. The UGSI fusible line Table 4. Both products are used in pull- D2241, AWWA C900, AWWA C905,
utilizes standard butt fusion equipment in-place trenchless applications. AWWA C909 and ASTM F1483.
for the joining of the pipe. A unique set The first three are conventional PVC,
of temperatures, pressures and duration while the latter two are PVC-O. Table 1
PVC pressure pipe standards
of fusion steps allow for the pipe to fuse summarizes some of the properties
and create joints that are essentially as PVC pressure pipes find their use in of each of the previously mentioned
strong as the original pipe material. The potable water distribution and transmis- standards:
fusion procedure takes about the same sion, as well as in sanitary sewer force While ASTM D2241 was, and still is,
length of time as other thermoplastics mains. The hydrostatic design basis used primarily in the rural water market
fusion joints such as HDPE. (HDB) of PVC pressure pipe is the hoop after its introduction in 1964, AWWA

Other Joint Types: Solvent-welded stress value from which the long-term C900 was the first widely specified PVC
joints are typically used for plumbing pressure rating of the material is estab-
applications. However, some older utilities lished. It is the starting point for deter- Table 1: PVC Pressure Pipe Standards
in the U.S. still allow solvent-welded PVC mining the pres- Standard HDB (psi) Factor of Surge Available
pipe to be used in municipal gravity appli- sure capacity of Safety Allowance Diameters (in)
cations. ASTM D2672, Joints for IPS PVC a given wall
thickness. ASTM D2241 4000 2.0 NO 4 – 36*
Pipe Using Solvent Cement, and ASTM D
AWWA and AWWA C900 4000 2.5 YES 4 – 12
2855, Practice for Making Solvent-
ASTM standards AWWA C905 4000 2.0 NO 14 – 48
Cemented Joints with Poly (Vinyl
for conventional AWWA C909 7100 2.5 YES 4 – 24
Chloride) (PVC) Pipe and Fittings, are
PVC pressure ASTM F1483 6810 / 6040 2.0 NO 4 – 16
commonly used for solvent-welded joints.
Another type of joint, used only for pipe have an * Diameters of 1/8-inch through 3.5-inch available with solvent-welded joints

www.undergroundconstructiononline.com October 2004 Underground Construction 59

Thermoplastics
pressure piping standard for larger,
urban utilities. Introduced in 1975,
AWWA C900 incorporated a higher factor
of safety than its predecessor, and also
included a surge allowance. In the diame-
ter range of 4-inch through 12-inch, this
standard is most widely used in distribu-
tion systems, which is characterized by
looped systems, with numerous and fre-
quent lateral connections; hence this
standard incorporated a surge allowance
and a higher factor of safety. C905 was
published in 1988, and because of its
diameter range of 14-inch through 48-
inch, the standard was designed for use
in transmission and force main lines.
Transmission systems are characterized Table 2: ASTM Gravity PVC Pipe Standards
by fewer service connections than found sewer pipe standards allow manufacture down to as low as 12 psi for the largest
in distribution networks, generally higher of both cell classifications 12454 diameter of 48-inch. In addition to the
velocities, and fewer barrier effects. Like and 12364 (minimum tensile strength requirements for watertight joints, this
ASTM D2241, it has a factor of safety of of 6,000 psi, minimum modulus of elastic- standard also calls for soil-tight joints,
2.0 and no surge allowance. The fewer ity of 440,000 psi). For all practical per AASHTO Specifications for Highway
barrier effects in transmission lines purposes, pipe manufactured to either Bridges, Division II, Section 23. Profiles
enable easier accounting for surges, formulation perform very well under can be of all three described for the
which is incorporated into the system buried conditions. ASTM profile pipe standards: OP, CP, and
design. Table 2 summarizes various properties DWCP.
of the previously listed ASTM standards.
PVC gravity pipe standards AASHTO M278 is similar in scope to Trenchless PVC products
Non-pressure PVC pipes have been in ASTM D3034, with the exception that the The reality of underground piping con-
use in the U.S. since the early 1960’s. former also allows for perforated wall. As struction today has evolved into a combi-
Today, PVC gravity pipe is used in sani- an AASHTO standard, the application of nation of both open-cut and trenchless
tary sewer, storm sewer and highway this type of pipe is for subsurface processes. While open-cut installations
drainage and culvert applications. There drainage and surface drainage (culverts) continue to be the standard method of
are two main groups of PVC gravity pipe of transportation facilities. AASHTO installing pipe particularly for new con-
—- solid wall and profile wall. There are M304 ranges in diameters of 4-inch struction, advances in the field of trench-
seven widely used solid and profile wall through 48-inch, but what sets it apart less technology have given engineers and
pipe standards: ASTM D3034, ASTM from ASTM standards is the wide varia- contractors numerous tools with which to
F679, AASHTO M278, ASTM F794, tion of allowable pipe stiffness. While all alleviate the challenges of underground
ASTM F949, ASTM F1803 and AASHTO ASTM solid and profile wall standards construction in highly developed urban
M304. have a minimum pipe stiffness of 46 psi, settings. To meet the demand for trench-
Solid wall pipe, as the name suggests, is AASHTO M304 pipe stiffness can go less construction, several PVC piping
made of a continuous wall of PVC of uni-
form thickness. Profile wall pipe, on the
other hand, is braced spirally or circum-
ferentially with structural shapes, but
provides a smooth-wall interior. Profile
pipes economize on the amount of mate-
rial needed for fabrication; by altering the
shape of the wall, the same stiffness as
solid-wall pipe is achieved, using less
material. Profile wall pipe generally fall
into three categories —- open profile
(OP), closed profile (CP), and dual wall
corrugated profile (DWCP). OP pipe
have their rib-enforcements exposed on
the outside of the pipe. CP pipe make use
of a closed profile that provides a contin-
uous outer wall where the wall sections
are hollow and are often described as an
I-beam or honeycomb. DWCP pipe has a
smooth-wall waterway, braced circumfer-
entially with an external corrugated wall.
While all PVC pressure pipe standards
are manufactured only to cell classifica-
tion 12454 (tensile strength of 7,000 psi,
modulus of elasticity of 400,000), some
Table 3: PVC Trenchless Products by Installation Method

60 Underground Construction October 2004 www.undergroundconstructiononline.com


Table 4: PVC Proprietary-Joint Segmental Sliplining Products
Table 5: Restrained-Joint PVC Products for HDD
products have been developed in recent
years. Examples are listed in Table 3.
The three main types of trenchless
processes for which the available PVC
standards and products are designed
include sliplining (rehabilitation), hori-
zontal directional drilling (new construc-
tion) and close-fit pipe lining (rehabilita-
tion).

Sliplining Products: Sliplining can be
categorized into four unique types —
segmental, spirally wound, man-entry
profile strip and continuous. The process
is used for rehabilitation of both gravity
and pressure systems. Table 4 provides a
Table 6: Close-Fit Pipe Lining PVC Options
listing of three widely used proprietary-
joint segmental slipliners.

Horizontal Directional Drilling
Products: For the purpose of pull-in-
place applications, in addition to Fusible
PVC discussed earlier, there are two
other proprietary restrained-joint prod-
ucts, Table 5.

Close Fit Pipe Lining Products: Close-
fit pipe lining is the generic name of a
trenchless pipeline rehabilitation process
where new thermoplastic pipe that is
modified in cross section before installa-
tion, is reformed to its original size and
shape by the application of heat and
www.undergroundconstructiononline.com October 2004 Underground Construction 61
pressure after placement into a deterio-
rating host pipe. In gravity lines, this pro-
cedure ultimately provides a close-fit
liner with the host pipe that gives some
structural support as well as improved
flow characteristics. The only PVC lining
system for water distribution and trans-
mission, Duraliner, gives a stand-alone
structural system capable of withstand-
ing internal pressure of up to 150 psi,
Table 6.
Conclusion
This comprehensive state-of-the-art
review of PVC piping products attempts
to provide design engineers and speci-
fiers with up-to-date information, which
will be helpful when using, or considering
the use of PVC pipe, for water and sewer
capital improvement projects as well as
rehabilitation of deteriorating pipelines.
With the rapidly rising need for rehabili-
tation of failing buried piping systems,
innovations particularly in the field of
trenchless technology are taking place,
and consequently, new types of piping
solutions are becoming available in the
marketplace.
About this article:
This paper contains excerpts from two
previous publications by the author,
Shah Rahman:
State-of-the-Art Review of Municipal
PVC Piping Products — presented at
the ASCE Pipeline 2004 Conference in
San Diego, CA, summer 2004.
Chapter 6 - Pipe Materials, in
Trenchless Technology : Pipeline and
Utility Design, Construction, and
Renewal by Mohammed Najafi, The
book will be published by McGraw-Hill
in winter 2004. Rahman wrote the
chapter in its entirety, and the materi-
al was reviewed by Dr. Reynold
Watkins of Utah State University.
About the author:
Shah Rahman is regional vice-presi-
dent of technical marketing for
Underground Solutions. Rahman is a
civil engineering graduate of the
Virginia Military Institute, and also
holds a graduate degree in marketing
from Southern Methodist University.
Prior to joining Underground
Solutions, he spend four years as the
marketing director and a regional
engineer for the Uni-Bell PVC Pipe
Association. Rahman can be contacted
at (972) 243-1300.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
PVC pipe: Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association, (972) 243-
3902, or circle reader service number #159