Abstract:
This paper presents the details of experimental testing for the suitability of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) pipes for gas transmission lines. Hydrostatic bursting pressure and split ring tests were performed on 150 mm (6 in.) and 250 mm (10 in.) diameter pipes made by both the pultruded and filament wound processes. The filament wound pipes were tested to evaluate the butt joint failure strengths. The classical lamination theory (CLT) was used to predict the elastic behaviour of these pipes. It was found that filament wound pipes offer superior resistance to internal pressures compared to pultruded pipes. Furthermore, the joints were found to be the most limiting component in terms of pipeline burst pressure capacity. The observed elastic behaviour by the employed hydrostatic pressure test method showed strong agreement with the CLT predictions which confirms its applicability for testing GFRP pipes for bursting pressure. Failure predictions between the experimental data and theory had minor discrepancies.