Comparison of the cost of steel bellows and wound pipes under the same ring stiffness

In the selection of plastic buried pipes, ring stiffness is the core indicator to measure the ability to resist external pressure. Only under the premise of the same ring stiffness can the cost comparison of steel belt corrugated pipe and winding pipe have reference value. From the perspective of material cost, steel belt corrugated pipe is based on polyethylene and embedded with steel belt reinforced structure. With the help of the high strength characteristics of steel belt, the amount of polyethylene can be greatly reduced; while the winding pipe is mostly made of polyethylene winding. In order to achieve the same ring stiffness, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the pipe wall or optimize the winding structure. The consumption of polyethylene raw materials is greater, and the material cost is usually higher than that of steel belt corrugated pipe. If the winding pipe is reinforced with steel skeleton, although the amount of polyethylene can be reduced, the processing cost of steel skeleton is higher, and the overall material cost is still slightly higher. At the production process level, steel belt bellows use a continuous extrusion composite process, which has a high degree of automation, fast production efficiency, and low unit energy consumption and labor costs. Winding pipes need to go through multiple processes such as raw material mixing, winding molding, and welding. The production cycle is long, the equipment debugging and manual operation complexity is high, and the cost investment in the production process is significantly higher than that of steel belt bellows. In terms of installation and maintenance costs, steel belt bellows are lighter in weight, simple in connection, fast in on-site installation, and require less labor and lifting costs. Due to the structural characteristics of winding pipes, some products with large pipe diameters are heavier in weight, and the connection process requirements are higher. The installation cycle is long. The difficulty of disassembly and repair during later maintenance is also greater, and the comprehensive operation and maintenance cost is slightly higher. Overall, under the same ring stiffness, the overall cost of the steel belt bellows is more advantageous, while the winding pipe has certain characteristics in adaptability to special working conditions, and the selection needs to be comprehensively considered in combination with the project budget and use requirements.