A University of Arizona (UA) engineering professor may have a solution to a U.S. infrastructure problem that’s growing deadlier each year. The National Gas Technology Institute (GTI) recently published a test report approving a new technology called PipeMedic, which uses carbon and glass laminates to repair and replace failing gas pipelines.

PipeMedic technology was developed by Mo Ehsani, professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of Arizona College of Engineering, and a pioneer in the structural application of fiber-reinforced polymers, or FRPs. He now runs his own business, QuakeWrap, started in 1994.

Ehsani’s research at UA focused on the seismic behavior of structures, as well as on innovative approaches to repairing and retrofitting civil structures using fiber-reinforced polymers.

Ehsani describes PipeMedic as a “superlaminate” because it uses crisscrossing carbon fibers and layers of glass fabric saturated with resin, then pressurized and heat-treated to create strips about 0.025 in. thick.

“It works like a stent,” Ehsani says. “We coil the laminate around what is essentially a balloon with wheels, and insert it into the pipe.” The area to be fixed might be 1,000 ft away from the pipe entry point, he says, which means that pipe can be treated even if it’s buried under buildings or roads.

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