Polypropylene Random copolymer (PPR) is a
thermoplastic material widely used to transport hot and cold
water under pressure. In operation, PPR pipes are sometimes
subjected to accidental damages that may cause a reduction in
residual strength or even a complete fracture of the structure.
Hence the need to characterize the behavior of virgin and
defective PPR pipes under pressure to develop carefully a
maintenance strategy to ensure a minimum cost with the
maximum reliability. In this article, a set of real tests of
bursting on virgin and notched pipes was conducted to
mechanically assess the level of damage reaches and
characterize the behavior in PPR pipes. The estimation of the
damage degree by the model experimental damage led to
identify stages of the evolution of damage.