PCCP is the short name of the Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe, this pipe is the most popular pipe lines for the water supply. Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP) consists of a concrete core, a thin steel cylinder, high tensile prestressing wires and a mortar coating. The concrete core is the main structural load-bearing component with the steel cylinder acting as a water barrier between concrete layers, the prestressing wires produce a uniform compressive pressure in the core that offset tensile stresses in the pipe, and the mortar coating protects the prestressing wires from physical damage and external corrosion.
Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP) was first manufactured in 1942 as lined cylinder pipe. The prestressing wire in lined cylinder pipe is wrapped directly around the steel cylinder. A second type of PCCP was developed in 1952 that has concrete encasement of the steel cylinder on both sides. Known as embedded cylinder pipe, it differs from lined cylinder pipe by the encapsulation of its steel cylinder in a concrete core. Therefore, the prestressing wire is wrapped around the concrete core rather than the steel cylinder as in lined cylinder pipe. The typical diameter ranges for lined and embedded cylinder pipe are between 16 to 60-inches and 30 to 256-inches, respectively.
Pre-stressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP) is a rigid pipe designed to take optimum advantage of the tensile strength of steel and of the compressive strength and corrosion inhibiting properties of concrete. It has been used for over 40 years for such applications as water transmission and distribution pipelines, cooling water systems, sewer force mains, inverted siphons, sub aqueous pipelines, and liners for pressure tunnels.