COMPOSITE PIPING SYSTEMS

A COMBINED EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY IS PLANNED TO DEVELOP ADVANCED COMPOSITE PIPING SYSTEMS. DUAL WALL PIPE WILL BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED FOR IMPROVED IMPACT RESISTANCE AND TOUGHNESS. EPOXY AND POLYESTER RESINS WILL BE USED IN COMPOSITE PIPE SECTIONS AND BONDED WITH EPOXY ADHESIVES AS WELL AS WITH HEAT-SHRINKABLE ULTRA HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT POLYETHYLENE AND ADVANCED ELASTMERIC COUPLINGS AND TESTED BENDING AND TORSION AT TEMPERATURES TO 300 DEG F UNDER INTERNALPRESSURE. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ENDOTHERMIC AND FIRE RETARDANT BLANKETS WILL BE INCORPORATED IN COMPOSITE PIPE SYSTEMS TO BE TESTED AND EVALUATED TO MEET STRINGENT FIRE/SMOKE/TOXICITY REQUIREMENTS. AN ASSESSMENT OF GRAPHITIZED CARBON FIBERS, WHICH HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY USED IN EXPERIMENTS FOR ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION, WILL BE PERFORMED, ESPECIALLY FOR USE IN FUEL PIPING APPLICATIONS. SIMPLE MODELSWILL BE CONSTRUCTED TO ESTABLISH THE COMPUTER OPTIMIZATION SCHEME OF THE PIPING PROPERTIES, THE GOVERNING EQUATION FOR THE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, AND THE EMPIRICAL EQUATIONS FOR THE COMPOSITE PIPING BEHAVIOR. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO PROVIDE DESIGN DATA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STRONG, LIGHTWEIGHT, EASY TO INSTALL AND REPAIR, COMPOSITE PIPE SYSTEM TO REPLACE EXOTIC ALLOYS USED IN CORROSIVE APPLICATIONS.