Codified methods to analyse the failures of water pipelines: A Review

Pipelines used for the transportation of water and other services are very important lifelines in modern society. The important role that they play in our present economy is reflected by thousands of kilometres of service laid in urban centres worldwide. As many of these pipelines have been laid few decades earlier, in most cases, their condition has been deteriorated mainly by electro-chemical and (or) micro-biological corrosion. There are several codes of practice available at present to analyse the condition of such deteriorated pipes. This paper identifies and reviews all such relevant standards applicable to corroded water mains with the use of some case studies. Three dimensional finite element analyses are also conducted to investigate the capabilities of simulating the failures of corroded pipelines and thus to ascertain the validity of codified methods. By careful assessment of the current codes of practice in use, it is possible to understand where these codes are lacking and which codes can rightly predict the realistic water pipe failures observed in the past.