Pure Technologies announced the completion of the first comprehensive inspection of a fully operational prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) wastewater force main.?The 54-inch force main was inspected using Pure?s SmartBall and PipeDiver pipeline assessment tools.?SmartBall detects leaks and pockets of trapped gas in pressurized pipelines, which can lead to premature failures through various corrosion mechanisms.
PipeDiver?s electromagnetic assessment sensors provide a non-destructive method of evaluating the baseline condition of the prestressing wire (the primary structural component of PCCP) by estimating the quantity and location of wire breaks for each pipe section.
?This is a significant advancement in wastewater force main condition assessment,? said Travis Wagner, P.E., Pure Technologies wastewater assessment leader. ?The comprehensive condition assessment of PCCP force mains has historically proven difficult for wastewater collection system owners/operators since unlike potable water transmission mains, force mains generally lack redundancy and therefore, the ability to shut down the pipeline for a traditional comprehensive PCCP assessment.??
Thorough force main inspections often require significant operational and/or financial expenditures in order to bypass the wastewater flow via temporary pumping or a piped diversion.? Through the successful implementation of the SmartBall and PipeDiver tools, PCCP force main owners/operators now have the ability to conduct comprehensive condition assessments of their wastewater PCCP assets with a significantly lower
operational impact.
