Field Performance of Recycled Plastic Foundation for Pipeline

The incidence of failure of embedded pipelines has increased in Korea due to the increasing applied load and the improper compaction of bedding and backfill materials. To overcome these problems, a prefabricated lightweight plastic foundation using recycled plastic was developed for sewer pipelines. A small scale laboratory chamber test and two field tests were conducted to verify its construction workability and performance. From the small scale laboratory chamber test, the applied loads at 2.5% and 5.0% of deformation were 3.45 kgf/cm2 and 5.85 kgf/cm2 for Case S1, and 4.42 kgf/cm2 and 6.43 kgf/cm2 for Case S2, respectively. From the first field test, the vertical deformation of the recycled plastic foundation (Case A2) was very small. According to the analysis based on the PE pipe deformation at the connection (CN) and at the center (CT), the pipe deformation at each part for Case A1 was larger than that for Case A2, which adopted the recycled lightweight plastic foundation. From the second field test, the measured maximum settlements of Case B1 and Case B2 were 1.05 cm and 0.54 cm, respectively. The use of a plastic foundation can reduce the settlement of an embedded pipeline and be an alternative construction method.