Structural Integrity of Damaged Cast Iron Pipelines and Identifying When Damaged Pipes Should be Repaired or Replaced

Abstract

The majority of cast iron (CI) pipelines were installed in the United States in the early to mid20 th century. Most of these pipes are in a sustainable working condition; however, any failure of these pipelines could be catastrophic due to the social, political, and environmental impacts of the failure. To facilitate better decision making for capital expenditures and to address the risk associated with these assets, the failure mechanisms of CI pipe must be understood. In addition, for planning and capital budgeting, it is important to determine the current condition of a deteriorated pipeline and its risk of failure. In this study, the structural evaluation of damaged CI pipes is discussed considering corrosion of the pipe (the most common failure mode of CI pipe). This paper provides a clear and concise picture of how to determine the current condition of damaged CI pipelines. This will allow decision makers to enhance their asset management strategy based on inspection results and advanced computational modeling.