Design of cylindrical plastic pipe linings to resist buckling due to collapse pressures

Flexible (non-bonded) polymeric sewer linings are used extensively to renovate both gravity and pressure pipes. Linings for both types of pipe are subject to collapse pressures, and in the case of gravity pipes this is the dominant source of loading; the efficient design of linings to sustain collapse pressures is therefore an important problem. In this paper, the buckling of an ideal thin-walled elastic lining in a rigid cylindrical cavity is first presented as a simple closed form solution, and the effect of a representative small imperfection shown to be significant. The different types of imperfection that can be encountered in practical lined pipe systems are identified, and the situations in which each can arise are discussed. A generalised procedure for obtaining the structural imperfections in, and hence buckling capacities of, practical systems is then presented and two example applications are used to illustrate its application in specific situations.