FRP and Hydraulic Efficiency
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
2:00 p.m. Eastern
Participants earn one Professional Development Hour.
Webinar Overview
When selecting pipe for your next project, you want to consider all the economic and technical factors, including long-term implications relating to hydraulic performance. Join our October 26 webinar: “FRP and Hydraulic Efficiency.”
Pipe selection was once based primarily on purchase price. Today, engineers understand that life-cycle costs are just as important, if not more so. Hydraulic performance has an impact on many aspects of the total life-cycle costs of a pipe, as well as on installation costs. Our webinar will cover such critical areas as how comparing the hydraulic efficiency of different pipe materials may make it possible to specify pipe with a smaller diameter, thereby reducing a number of costs, including transportation and installation. We will also discuss how pumping costs can be kept to a minimum, maintenance costs can be reduced, operating costs can be lowered, and pipe longevity can be extended, all as a direct result of hydraulic performance. We will cover how sub-optimized hydraulic efficiency can lead to corrosion and leakage, possibly with costly environmental implications.
Different pipe materials perform differently from the point of view of hydraulic efficiency, and we will examine the relative performance of traditional materials such as PVC; ductile iron; more recent material developments such as bar-wrapped and steel; and the two main types of fiberglass pipe on the market today, centrifugal cast (CCFRPM) and continuous-ound (CWFRPM) pipe.
This webinar is relevant to a number areas of water application, including gravity, force main and pressure—providing actionable insights for engineers, decision-makers and others dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and management of water and wastewater systems.
Company Profile
Pipe and structures must be built to last for decades and to handle the most challenging infrastructure issues of today. The Thompson Pipe Group serves this need across the U.S. and Canada beginning with three flagship products: Reinforced Concrete Pipe (RCP), Precast Box Culverts, and Flowtite fiberglass pipe (FRP). Thompson Pipe Group also manufactures polymer concrete pipe, Meyer Polymer Concrete structures, and a range of other structures including precast concrete, often custom-poured.
In 1977, contractor Ken Thompson started a company to install concrete pipelines and underground structures. The business gradually shifted focus to the manufacture of piping and related products to serve the whole U.S., with support and delivery based on the contractor’s needs. Because of the contracting background, Thompson Pipe Group is a company that has a perspective that includes the needs of the owner, contractor, manufacturing efficiency and meeting the needs of the most demanding capacities and lay schedules. Each manufacturing plant has teams of engineers and designers with the same hands-on contracting experience that forms the company’s roots. Every project is supported all the way from the drawing board to the construction site.
Speaker Bio
Mike Leathers is Executive Vice President for Thompson Pipe Group. Prior to this, he was President of Hanson Engineered Products, which included Hanson Pressure Pipe and the Canadian gravity RCP division in Ontario and Quebec. Mike serves on the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Task Committee on Sustainable Design of Pipelines, and is a member of the University of Texas at Arlington Civil Engineer Advisory Board. He previously served two terms as chair of the American Concrete Pipe Pressure Assn. With all this, and more than 20 years in the industry, you can tell he is passionate about his business and the importance of water transport. Currently, Mike lives in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. He is active in his community council and serves on the planning committee for the City of Colleyville, Texas. Mike’s home is ALWAYS open to his huge extended family.
Jeff LeBlanc is the Engineering Manager for Thompson Pipe Group—Flowtite, which is the licensed manufacturer of Flowtite Fiberglass Pipe for North America. Jeff has a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Louisiana. He has more than 16 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry. For the past decade he has worked in the design, manufacture and installation of fiberglass and polymer concrete pipelines for water, sewer and hydropower utilities. His expertise is in flexible pipe design and long-term performance of composite pipe materials. He is an active member of the ASTM committees on Plastic Products (D20) and Plastic Piping Systems (F17). In addition, Jeff is also a contributing member of three ASCE Pipeline Committees. These committees include Thrust Restraint Design for Buried Pipelines, Sustainable Design of Buried Pipelines and Water Pipe Condition Assessment Guidelines. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Southeast Society for Trenchless Technology in Region 4.