Live Loads on Buried Pre-Insulated Pipe

Height of Cover LIVE LOAD TRANSFERRED TO PRE-INSULATED PIPE
Highway H20*1 Railway E80*2 Airport*3
mm ft kPa lbs/in2 kPa lbs/in2 kPa lbs/in2
300 1 86.19 12.50 - - - -
600 2 38.34 5.56 181.96 26.39 90.60 13.14
900 3 28.75 4.17 162.79 23.61 84.67 12.28
1200 4 19.17 2.78 126.87 18.40 77.71 11.27
1500 5 12.00 1.74 114.94 16.67 69.57 10.09
1800 6 9.58 1.39 107.77 15.63 60.61 8.79
2100 7 8.41 1.22 83.77 12.15 54.13 7.85
2400 8 4.76 0.69 76.60 11.11 47.78 6.93
3000 10 - - 52.68 7.64 42.80 6.09
3600 12 - - 38.34 5.56 32.82 4.76

Urecon’s polyethylene jacket is suitable for H-20 highway loading at 600 mm (24 in). Live H-20 load transferred to the insulation at 600 mm (24 in) depth of bury is 38 kPA (5.51 lbs/in2). Urecon pipe system compressive strength is approximately 414 to 1379 kPa (60-200 lbs/in2) - varies with pipe diameter and jacket thickness.

Notes:

  1. Simulates 20 ton traffic and impact.
  2. Simulates 119,000 kg/m (80,000 lb/ft) railway load and impact.
  3. Simulates 81,650 kg (180,000 lb) gear assembly, 660 mm (26 in) spacing between tires and 1.676 mm (66 in) center to center spacing between fore and aft tires, under a rigid pavement 300 mm (12 in) thick plus impact.
  4. Source: IPEX Inc.