Ask the Experts
Q: I understand that an RFTC inspection will provide me with the number of wire breaks in my PCCP, but how do I use that information to make rehabilitation decisions? Are there a number of wire breaks that I can use to determine which pipe needs repair?
Unfortunately there is no universal number of wire breaks that indicates it’s time to rehabilitate a pipe. The number of wire breaks alone is not sufficient to determine which pipe takes priority. You can have two pipes side by side with the same number of wire breaks but at different positions and one will be safe to leave in the ground, and the other will need a repair. Factors such as pipe configuration, environment, and the location and number of wire break regions need to be considered. Failure Risk Analysis uses these factors to identify the risk of failure and establishes repair priorities that specify when each distressed pipe needs to be rehabilitated. This analysis takes the guess work out of rehabilitation decisions.
PPIC strives to help client’s make strategic rehabilitation decisions, allowing funding to be used where it is most effective, which is why we partnered with Simpson Gumpertz and Heger (SGH), a Boston based consulting firm specializing in risk analysis of PCCP, to provide this service. SGH has more than 25 years of experience working with all aspects of transmission and distribution pipeline work, including analysis, design, internal and external field inspection, condition assessment, failure investigation, risk analysis, rehabilitation design, construction services and research.
Failure Risk Analysis and Repair Prioritization is a part of PPIC’s Condition Assessment Program for PCCP.
- Allison Biggar, Solutions Manager
Allison Biggar has nearly a decade of experience with PCCP condition assessment. Specializing in the RFTC technology, Allison has worked on projects with some of the largest water utilities in North America. For more information, contact Allison at Allison.Biggar@ppic.com.
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Disclaimer: The answers provided in the PPIC "Ask the Experts" column should be considered general opinions and should not be taken as formal engineering advice. Site visits are recommended to provide answers to specific challenges that a client may be facing. PPIC does not assume any responsibility for action taken by readers based on the opinions provided in this column.