Bending Deformation Characteristics and Performance Limitation of Polyethylene Reinforced with Short Glass Fiber Pipes and Electrofusion Joints

Abstract

Polyethylene reinforced with short glass fiber pipes (hereinafter referred to as PE-GF pipes), which is applied to agricultural pipelines, has lower ductility than polyethylene pipe, and it is necessary to understand the bending performance limits for ground followability in the longitudinal direction. In this paper, focusing on the allowable radius of curvature of PE-GF pipe having electrofusion joint (hereinafter referred to as EF joint), horizontal bending tests using real scale pipes were conducted to investigate the bending limit performance and the ultimate bending limit of EF joints. The result showed that in the gently curved pipeline where the radius of curvature of the pipeline in the longitudinal direction is 20 times the outside diameter of the pipe, no fracture points appeared at butt fusion joints and EF joints, and no significant changes were observed in the circumferential cross section of the pipe. There indicate that there is little change in the cross-sectional area of water flow. In addition, we confirmed that it is reasonable to set the allowable radius of curvature of the PE-GF pipe having EF joint in the longitudinal direction to 60 times the outside diameter of the pipe.