Methods of Analysis for Pipeline Replacement

Aging water distributions systems face a variety of problems in terms of disruptions resulting from lack of good quality water and pressure, and increased leakage, and breakage. These problems are attributed to corrosion, unanticipated overburden load, frost load, thermal load, expansive soil load, and water hammer pressure. Corrosion reduces the strength of a pipe in terms of reduced thickness and increased loads worsen the load bearing ability. In this paper, we review pipeline conditions that result in failure. The methods reviewed are physically based as opposed to the lumped statistical procedures. The methods are implemented in the form of a user-friendly decision support system software PipeADDIN. The software capabilities are also presented.