Plastic pipes have many advantages over pipes made from metals or concrete, such as good chemical resistance, low weight, low cost, and longer predicted service life, and are already used extensively for the transport of gas, water and chemicals. However their use in safety critical applications has been restricted by the lack of a validated inspection system being available to evaluate the joints.

Under the three-year project, the team designed and manufactured a prototype inspection system specifically for inspecting welded joints in PE pipes. This system has been assessed both in the laboratory/factory and in the field. Trials carried out on samples containing both real and artificial defects have proved successful in producing excellent results for butt fusion and EF welded joints.

The project consortium subsequently held four dissemination seminars to publicise the results of the project and these are available to view in the form of a webinar.

For further information please see the TestPEP website or email TWI.

The TestPEP project and website is managed by TWI and has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme managed by REA-Research Executive Agency (FP7-SME-2008-2) under grant agreement no. 243791. Information is provided as is and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and liability.

1. NDE of PE Pipe Welds - part 1

2. Flaw types and insertion procedures (PE pipe)

3. Development of NDE techniques (PE pipe welds)

4. Flaw acceptance criteria for PE pipe welds

5. NDE scanning system for PE pipe welds

6. Development of NDE instruments for PE pipe welds

7. Automated defect recognition software

8. Validation trial for NDE on PE pipe welds

9. Demonstration of the TestPEP inspection system