Abstract

Underground steel pipelines are the most efficient ways to transport oil and gas over a long distance. Steel pipes are considerably susceptible to deteriorate due to corrosion that can lead to serious pipeline failure. The application of fibre-reinforced composite overwrapped with epoxy grout on a damaged circular or rectangular structure is often practiced by the industry. The mechanical properties of the epoxy grouts are critical to their potential application as infill materials in pipeline repair. In this study, the mechanical behaviour of two epoxy based grouts was investigated. The mechanical tests were carried out accordance to the ASTM D695 for the compressive test, the ASTM D790 for the flexural test and the ASTM D638 for the tensile test. From the tests results, the compressive strength and stiffness of the grouts are found to be 60-88 MPa and 2.8-4.9 GPa, respectively. The flexural and tensile strengths of the grouts are found to be within the ranges of 35-43 MPa and 19-33 MPa, respectively. The flexural modulus was recorded at 3.91-11.87 GPa while tensile modulus range is within 2.07-4.65 GPa. From this study, it is concluded that the mechanical properties of the both grouts have the potential to be used in structural rehabilitation as suggested properties in previous research. In addition, for compressive strength, flexural strength and tensile strength less than 90, 45 and 35 MPa, both grouts can be considered as capable to serve its repair purpose in repair and rehabilitation.

Keywords:

Epoxy grout, mechanical properties, pipelines, repair and rehabilitation,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.