China's pipe and box culvert industry has clearly shown three development trends and directions, which means that the pipe and box culvert industry has entered the era of environmental protection.

Products are developing towards large caliber, flexible interface, environmental protection and corrosion resistance.

Equipment is developing towards automation, intelligence, energy saving and safety.

The application fields are developing in the fields of urban underground infrastructure construction, urbanization construction, sponge city construction, urban utility tunnel construction and so on.

1. Big markets and new areas

In recent years, China's core mold vibration pipe making technology is approaching perfection and has become the first choice for medium and large caliber pipe making technology because of its advantages of energy saving and high efficiency. Fully automatic and intelligent core-lifting core mould vibrating pipe making machine has been applied in many enterprises. Most of the pipe jacking projects require that the compressive strength grade of concrete be C50 and above, and the impermeability grade be P8 and above. After continuous improvement and perfection, the radial extrusion pipe extractor has been popularized and applied in the production of medium and small caliber pipes. The joint type of reinforced concrete drainage pipe is mainly flexible joint, which improved the requirements for joint sealing. In recent years, the variety and quality of sealing materials are increasing. Some important projects ask for anti-corrosion pipes, which are constantly being met.

Automatic production line of lifting core mould vibration

Vertical radial extrusion pipe making machine

At present, domestic core mold vibration pipe making machine, radial extrusion pipe making machine and steel skeleton roll welder have been exported to countries along the "Belt and Road" and are well received by them. The welding performance of the steel bar skeleton roll welder, an important equipment for manufacturing reinforced concrete drainage pipes, is rapidly improved, which can weld the thickest steel bar of 16mm and realize double-bar butt welding, greatly improving the production efficiency and product quality and reducing the energy consumption at the same time.

At the end of 2020, Jiangsu HuaGuang ShuangShun Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Shuohai (Xi 'an) International Trade Co., Ltd. signed a contract for 10 sets of vertical radial extrusion pipe making machines, which were sent to 10 countries in Africa such as Congo and Mozambique. At present, 10 sets of equipment have been produced but only 3 sets have been installed due to the Covid-19. This project is another beneficial attempt of China's domestic advanced equipment "going global".

Installation and commissioning of vertical radial extrusion pipe making machine in Mozambique

2. Environmental protection, intelligence and high quality

On the road of green development, comprehensive utilization, intelligent manufacturing and high-quality development, pipe and box culvert products will continue to develop in the direction of large caliber, high performance, trenchless, corrosion resistance, compound type and flexibility during the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan period; Technology and equipment are developing towards energy saving, environmental protection, high degree of automation and safe production; The terminal market also extends to the urban underground reservoirs, underground railway passages, pipes for underground pipe networks, power tunnels, sewage pipes, prefabricated assembly pipe corridors, prefabricated assembly concrete inspection wells and other fields.

In terms of process technology and equipment research, it is necessary to further popularize equipment technology featuring low-carbon environmental protection, energy saving and consumption reduction, and R&D of cement concrete pipe and box culvert production automation, intelligent process technology and complete sets of equipment and to overcome technical difficulties, which help to improve the techniques of advanced equipment innovation achievements of developed core mold vibration, radial extrusion and rising core mold vibration pipe production line, and to catch up with and even surpass the international advanced level in main indexes.

In terms of product and application technology innovation, we will develop more concrete pipe and box culvert products that meet the needs of engineering construction based on national underground infrastructure construction, striving to achieve product innovation and application innovation.

3. General trend and new ideas

Looking at the layout of pipe and box culvert industry, we can see that the development of market scale in each region mainly changes with the needs of local infrastructure design and municipal, electric power and water network engineering construction.

During the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan period, the broad market prospect of cement concrete and box pipe culvert is the inevitable trend of industry development. On the whole, cement concrete pipe and box culvert products still boast strong competitiveness and broad market prospects for a long time. With the need to alleviate the economic impact of the pandemic, China will accelerate the infrastructure construction, prompting a sustained growth of the infrastructure investment. The advantages of concrete pipe and box culvert and its extension products in the popularization and application of municipal, water conservancy, electric power, railway, utility tunnel, sewage treatment and sponge city are still obvious. The new infrastructure investment will certainly provide new opportunities for the transformation and upgrading of pipe and box culvert industry.

"2021-2022 China Concrete Exhibition" (March 30-April 01 2022 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province) has a special exhibition area for intelligent innovative equipment and high-performance technology products of cement concrete pipes and box culverts. Leading enterprises in Qingdao Hicorp Group Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd, Suzhou Kexing Concrete and Cement Product Equipment Co., Ltd., Yangzhou Huaguang Shuangrui, Jiangsu Huaguang Shuangshun Group, Sichuan Just Rubber Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Jiangyang Building Materials Machinery Co., Ltd.,  Jiangsu Zhongyi, Jiangsu Weiziman Machinery Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Bangwei Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd., Henan Jingcheng Mould, Jiangsu Sinoer Building Materials Equipment Co., Ltd., Dongguan Dianshi PVC and other industries will bring new products and technologies to the exhibition.

During the exhibition, many activities such as new products, new technology promotion activities, expert consultation, case analysis forum and small forums in the booths of leading enterprises in the industry will be held in pipe and box culvert exhibition area every day, bringing the audience the latest equipment, technology and applications leading in the industry in recent years.