In North America, trenchless pipe installation methods continue to see rapid adoption growth in municipal markets with 71% of utilities having used trenchless methods in the past 12 months. This adoption rate is a function of improving equipment, installation experience and improved materials.

The three most recognised trenchless installation methods[purchase_link id=”0″ style=”” color=”” text=”Purchase”] for pressure pipe — horizontal directional drilling, sliplining and pipe-bursting — are seeing rapid growth in application.  Improvements in methods and materials have stretched the boundaries of these technologies, allowing longer lengths of pipe, larger sizes and an increased range of project constraints to be managed.

New pipe joining methodologies for thermoplastic pipe materials and specifically the advent of thermally fused PVC pipe have had the largest impact on the growth of these installation modes in North American water and wastewater infrastructure.

This paper discusses the fused PVC pipe technology that is enabling trenchless growth and highlights two cases studies where fused PVC was utilised — a 1 1140 m horizontal directional drilling bore with 600 mm and 150 mm pipe pulled in simultaneously under a live airport runway in Portland, Oregon and a water utility in Colorado that has installed over 45 000 m of fused PVC via the pipe-bursting method.

In South Africa, with its ageing underground services, especially in dense urban area, the application of trenchless technologies on a larger scale will contribute to cost effective remedial projects which will result in increased services life.