a bending tensile test to determine the crushing strength of sewer pipes

a problem which frequently arises in assessing the cause of structural failures in sewers is the difficulty of determining the strength of the pipes. withdrawal of complete undamaged pipes for testing is often impossible, and all that may be readily available is broken fragments of pipe. this report describes experience gained with the use of a german din test, in which the crushing strength of whole clayware pipes is estimated from tests on small pieces; a modification for estimating the anisotropy of the pipe material is also described. the test is used to examine the relation between the proportion of damaged pipes and the structural integrity of the sewer.(a)