prEN XXX

Plastics piping systems for non-pressure underground drains and sewers - Durability assessment method for products prEN XXX

Scope

This document provides guidelines for the assessment of the durability of buried non-pressure
thermoplastic pipes which experiences an almost constant deformation level during operation.
The object is to provide the design engineer the necessary information to ensure that the
expected design life of the thermoplastic pipe can be achieved with confidence.The durability assessment for pressure thermoplastic pipes is based heavily on the long-term
failure under constant load, especially on internal pressure test data. This approach is
discussed in this document in combination with the load and stress levels experienced by
pressure and non-pressure pipes.

A procedure for the quality assurance (including durability) of pipes produced from an unknown
polymer grade is presented. Here, the starting point is to optimise the number of experimental
data required for pipes produced from an unknown polymer grade. Schemes for type testing (TT),
batch release testing (BRT), process verification testing (PVT) and audit testing (AT) in an
informative Annex.

The procedure to obtain the required data for the long-term assessment is provided for the
three types of thermoplastic materials considered, namely PE, PP and PVC.

This document is applicable to the durability of the thermoplastic pipes and not to the durability
of the pipeline as a whole.