By Grant Lee on 6/7/2011 8:59 PM

What do we really mean when we infer that the quality of one product or material is better than another? It can be argued that quality of a product is subjective, and that the notion of quality is measured by the manufacturer, the user of the product, and the product itself as a system with other products and materials.

Manufacturers are concerned with producing products properly that conform to standards. Users consider costs compared to perceptions of quality, or comparisons with other products that may have nothing to do with manufacturing standards. Then, there is the degree to which a product performs in an overall system, as seen by both the manufacturer and user.

For many who are aware of the full range of manufacturing standards and standard specifications that apply to concrete pipe and precast boxes, the question of quality is not often raised. Modern concrete pipe is produced to the best standards of our time. Users of drainage products of all types should take the responsibility of understanding what is meant by claims of quality.

 

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 5/6/2011 6:37 AM

The concrete pipe industry developed rudimentary software programs in the late 1980s to run on 386 and Pentium computers. It had developed SAMM (Spangler and Marston Method) software for calculating structural loads on pipe; CAPE (Cost Analysis of the Pipe Envelope) to help contractors and owners determine the most efficient bedding and pipe alternatives; and LCA (Life-Cycle Cost Analysis) software for helping specifiers and regulators determine the best pipe material alternative to match service life to design life of a project. It wasn’t long before the three programs were combined into an interactive software package called PipePac, and in 1997, the comprehensive software was rolled out for international consumption. The program has been upgraded many times to keep current with changes in standards and advances in concrete pipe design. It remains one of the industry’s premier marketing and design tools. PipePac demonstrates that choice of low first cost pipe material such as HDPE and corrugated steel is not the best choice for many sewer and culvert applications that require low cost performance over several decades.

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 4/3/2011 11:02 PM

Nonreinforced concrete pipe (NRCP) is suitable for a wide range of buries and applications throughout Canada, especially in average installations from two to 14 feet of cover with highway loadings. The pipe is widely used throughout Europe. The pipe is corrosion resistant, but in soils with a high percentage of sulfates in solution that can be replenished, changes in concrete mix design and backfill must be considered. NRCP will not rust or burn, gets stronger with time, and has a specific gravity of 2.40 to resist buoyancy.

NRCP is a twenty-first century product in every way. It can be mass produced in modern automated and robotic plants, and produced with mixes to suit just about any environmental and site condition. It has a service life known to extend beyond 100 years, is a formidable alternative to flexible pipe, and has a competitive price point. The time is long overdue for lifting a veil on a proven product for today’s market demands.

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 3/7/2011 10:35 PM

Demand seems to be increasing for precast concrete utility chambers and tunnels protecting pipes for utilities and sewage in densely populated downtown cores, on sites with limited space for maintenance, and where security of buried infrastructure is of concern. Products comprised of alternative materials are not an option when it comes to protecting buried services and utilities. If you know of the recent construction of utility chambers with precast concrete boxes or large diameter pipe, tell us where.

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 2/8/2011 10:46 PM

It would appear that most municipalities are working with the notion of sustainable development and drafting policy to implement elements of the concept. Elected representatives tend to place the weight of policy implementation on specifiers and regulators in the public service. Generally, it is the private sector that introduces new products and services to help implement plans for sustainable development. With the rush to make all things sustainable, many new products are failing before their anticipated service life, and long before the end of the design life of projects. It could be argued that the tendering process that favours low bids invites cheap, unproven products with weak standards into the market.

 

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 1/7/2011 12:16 AM

The concrete pipe industry has never claimed that its products would last 1,000 years, yet the evidence is in place suggesting that rigid sewers last for generations, and we have said so.

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 12/5/2010 2:38 AM

The function of a pipeline generally determines the performance requirements of the pipe joints. Whether the purpose is to convey sanitary sewage or storm water, joints are designed so that when sections are laid together they will make a continuous line of pipe with an interior free from irregularities. Joints can be designed to provide soil-tightness, or watertightness, with the ability to accommodate lateral or longitudinal movement, and strength to handle shear or vertical movement.

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 11/6/2010 12:51 AM

Our natural resources become more important to us, as awareness increases about how fragile they are, and how some can easily disappear never to return. Such is the case with aquatic ecosystems. The concrete pipe industry produces environmental products that contribute to health and safety of urban and rural communities – large and small. Concrete pipe and boxes are used for innovative applications that often mitigate the effects of human activities on streams, rivers, and lakes. Innovation has now come to stream rehabilitation work and the need along the reaches of some waterways to bar nonnative species of fish and other aquatic organisms from invading high priority watersheds occupied by existing native, or repatriated species. Precast boxes are a desirable solution that closes a technology gap between legislated environmental challenges and construction methodology for fish barriers. Are you aware of this application? Comments?

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 10/5/2010 8:02 PM

Concrete pipe, boxes, and manholes have applications that go beyond storm and sanitary sewers and culverts. Although pipelines, manholes, and culverts continue to be the greatest applications for concrete pipe and boxes, among other things, they are also used for buried stormwater management chambers, oil/sediment separators, geothermal heating and cooling of buildings, holding tanks, energy dissipaters, and utility galleries. Many of these structures are used to compliment concrete pipe sewers and culverts.

Read More »

By Grant Lee on 9/8/2010 8:36 AM

Concrete pipe associations have a responsibility to create opportunity for their member firms and their employees to update and expand knowledge of precast concrete drainage products that includes design, quality control, production, testing, handling and installation. Associations also extend these learning opportunities to designers, specifiers, regulators, contractors, teachers and students. At the same time, associations work in many ways to bring knowledge to elected representatives through government relations programs that often include lobbying. Of all the audiences that can take advantage of association-driven education programs, which audiences seem most receptive to knowledge about standards, specifications, design, applications and innovation? Why? Which audiences appear to have little interest in education programs offered by associations?

Read More »