BCD Plastic Pipe Design Calculator Ver 3.1

The PPI Building & Construction Division’s Plastic Pipe Design Calculator is a software tool that aids in designing plastic pressure pipe and tubing systems using the materials CPVC, HDPE, PEX, PE-RT, PP-R, and PP-RCT. It is intended to assist designers using these materials for applications such as plumbing, water service, fire protection, hydronic piping, radiant heating & cooling, snow & ice melting, geothermal ground loops, district heating, chilled water, and turf conditioning.

The Calculator includes six main functions accessed via blue buttons on the left:

BCD Calc Icon
  • Pressure Drop/Head Loss
  • Pipe Weight/Volume
  • Thermal Expansion/Contraction
  • Hydraulic Shock
  • Expansion Arm/Loop
  • Static Water Column Pressure

DSC Pipes Plastic piping materials are the most reliable, resilient, and sustainable options for plumbing and mechanical applications. The Calculator utilizes dimensional data from ASTM and CSA standards for piping materials, as well as data extracted from PPI research projects and publications.

Pipes in Ceiling Note on Fittings: Characteristic pressure loss data on pipe fittings is often published by fitting suppliers as “equivalent feet of pipe length”. This data is not built into the Calculator, due to the wide variety of fitting designs available in the market. When doing Pressure Drop/Head Loss calculations for piping systems with fittings, the user can manually enter this data for the selected fittings, if it is known, and the pressure loss through fittings will be added to the calculated pressure loss through piping.

Advantages of plastic piping materials include:

Pipes in Ceiling
  • Value
  • Longevity
  • Ease of installation
  • Corrosion resistance
  • Safety of potable water
  • Reliable fitting and joining options
  • Light weight, ease of handling (worker safety)
  • Long-term reliability proven over decades of use
  • Sustainability and resiliency in the built environment