Long-Term Stress Analysis of Plastic Pipe Reinforced by Cross-Winding Steel Wire

Plastic pipe reinforced by cross helically wound steel wires (PSP) is a new type of metal-plastics composite pipe developed in China. Time-dependent properties of PSP are investigated theoretically and experimentally in this paper. Although the steel wire can carry most of the loading in a liner elastic way, the time dependent behavior shown in the PSP should be further analyzed and described. Based on the structural features of PSP and the viscoelastic behaviors of HDPE in matrix, a three layer viscoelastic model is proposed to calculate time-dependent elastic stresses and strains in the PSP subjected to internal pressure. The experimental results show that the hoop strain decreases slowly, while the axial strain increases by 0.16% in 14000 minutes at constant internal pressure. Good agreement between theoretical results and experimental data shows that the three layer viscoelastic model is able to predict the time-dependent relationship of stress and strain in PSP. The effects of volume fraction and winding angle of the steel wires on the creep behaviour of the PSP subjected to an internal pressure are discussed in the end.