Free Plastic Pipe Industry On-line Educational Channel Launched

The Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI) today announced its on-line educational channel that contains a curriculum of programs about plastic pipe. PPI is the major North American trade association representing the plastic pipe industry. The PPI eLearn channel can be found at https://elearn.plasticpipe.org/

“Our members used their expertise to put together programs that are substantial and important,” stated David M. Fink, PPI president. “Our mission is to advance the acceptance and use of plastic pipe systems through research, education, technical expertise and advocacy. This new eLearn site provides educational content to improve the understanding of and the use of plastic pipe in diverse applications. Additionally, we have a staff of professional engineers who are available to answer questions and help design a plastic pipe system.”

Each of the courses in the different PPI divisions is self-paced and built on a module platform that includes a certificate of completion at the end of the course. Currently there are three programs and five more in development. PPI’s divisions are Building & Construction, Energy Piping Systems, Drainage, Municipal & Industrial and Power & Communications.

The Drainage Installation Training session explains the installation of corrugated plastic pipe for drainage applications, and is presented by Daniel Currence, P.E., director of engineering for the PPI Drainage Division.

The Introduction to Polyethylene Piping for Oil and Gas course provides a broad overview of polyethylene (PE) piping used in oil & gas applications and covers basic material properties, manufacturing, codes and standards, joining, and installation & handling. Randy Knapp, Ph.D. director of engineering for the Energy Piping Systems Division of PPI is the presenter.

For conduit, the PPI Mini-HDD Conduit Design Calculator tutorial explains the inputs for conduit, inputs related to HDD, how to interpret the results and how to preserve the results of the analysis. Host Patrick Vibien, P, Eng., director of engineering for PPI’s Power & Communications Division also explains how the calculator will estimate the pulling forces for the installations and check which conduit wall types have adequate strength for the installation.