8 July 2008

CONDUIT SIZING FOR A FIBER OPTIC BACKBONE

Jeffrey Gregg Wolford

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Conduit Sizing for a Fiber Optic Backbone

Purpose: This paper discusses current methods for placing fiber optic cable and small copper
cables in underground outside plant, explores the pros and cons of each method, and examines
some alternative methods.

Background: The standard size and material for telecommunication conduits has been four inch
diameter polyvinylchloride (PVC) plastic conduit which was implemented prior to the advent of
the first telephone trials of fiber optic cable in the spring of 1977. The introduction of fiber optic
cable necessitated the need for smaller, segmented pathways and by 1978 Endot began making
innerduct to support fiber optic and small copper cable installation. Recently, fabric textile
innerduct, developed by Jerry Allen of TVC Inc., has supplemented rigid and corrugated flexible
innerduct. Fabric textile innerduct occupies less space and provides greater conduit
segmentation. Assuming three, three-inch, three-cell units installed in each conduit, there would
be nine separate pathways provided by cells versus a maximum of four paths using 1.25”
diameter rigid or corrugated flexible innerduct. In both cases there is void space between the
innerduct and wall of the conduit to install an additional small cable.

Methods of Conduit Segmentation: Currently there are three methods of handling fiber optic
cable and small copper cables in underground outside plant: no segmentation; rigid and flexible
innerduct (conduit); and textile fabric innerduct.

No Segmentation: The un-segmented method works well when multiple cables are pulled at the
same time. The practice is common when distribution cables from the voice and data nodes are
home run to each end user buildings. The following example of this practice is from West Point
United States Military Academy, Maintenance Hole 5 (figure). Note there are thirteen fiber optic
cables in the top left conduit. This indeed is a large number of cables without separation.
According to Corning Cables Systems, the maximum number cables sharing a single pathway
should not exceed three cables, although they did acknowledge more than three cables per
pathway occur frequently in the field. The key during installation is to insure that the maximum
pulling tension is not exceeded.

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Figure 1 West Point Maintenance Hole 5

Cables can also be installed into conduits with existing cables without segmentation. The
following example is again from West Point, Maintenance Hole 237 (figure 2).

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Figure 2West Point Maintenance Hole 237

Note the conduit on the right. There are at least five cables that have been installed at different
times. The argument against using this method is there is potential to damage the existing cable
during installation and increased difficulty removing a single cable from a bundle that was
installed together as the cables tend to twist around each other. Although cable manufacturers do
not recommend more than three cables being placed together without separation, the method is
quite successful based on the number field observations. Note also the rigid innerduct. In this
area of the post, rigid innerduct was placed in a continuous run between several maintenance
holes to reduce the number of pull points, thus allowing for longer continuous pulls. Continuous
runs make cable identification difficult, and many times are not properly racked in the
maintenance hole. Once again, in all of these situations, the key is to insure that the maximum
pulling tension is not exceeded during installation.

Rigid and Flexible Innerduct: The next method uses either rigid innerduct or corrugated
flexible innerduct (conduit). This requires installation of the innerduct prior to the installation of
cable. Rigid inner duct such as the smooth wall type is observed in the above picture, right
conduit. As mentioned previously, this method can improve cable installation times by providing
longer continuous pathways that are beyond the short maintenance hole spacing that is required
for large copper cables. Rigid innerduct works extremely well for long installation runs where
blown fiber methods are used. For underground building entrances that utilize a 90° sweep into
building, this method offers advantages over fabric textile innerduct. If the first cable is installed

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in the outer most cell of textile innerduct placed through a 90° sweep, the cable will collapse the
other cells against the inside bend of the sweep, making the installation of additional cable more
difficult if the initial cable was pulled in too tightly.

The following diagram shows five 1.00 inch (inside diameter) innerducts placed in standard four-
inch conduit and four 1.25 inches (inside diameter) innerducts placed in a standard four-inch
conduit.

1 1.25
1
1 1.25 1.25
1
1 1.25

Figure 3 Four-Inch Conduit with 1” and 1-1/4” Innerduct

The table below shows the percentage area occupied by the innerduct. Clearly there is enough
void space between the innerducts to install more cables, provided the route is relatively straight
or has minimum bends. As stated earlier, filling the innerduct with cable is not recommended
and care must be taken not to exceed maximum recommended pulling tension. This should only
be done in situations where in areas to avoid excessive digging costs where future growth and
need for additional cables in the future is not foreseen and with careful consideration by the
engineer.

Percent fill (Total

Inside Outside Cross Sectional Number of Area of ID/Conduit
Diameter Diameter Area innerducts Total Area Area)
1" Innerduct 1.000 1.349 1.429 5 7.146 56%
1-1/4" Innerduct 1.250 1.550 1.887 4 7.548 59%
4" Conduit 4.026 12.730

The maximum number of innerducts that can be installed in a conduit is calculated as follows:

D - Inside diameter of the outerduct.

d - Outside diameter of the innerduct.
Note the calculation uses radians
N – Number of Innerducts
θ - Angle from the horizontal axis of the outerduct to a line that passes through the cent
of the outerduct and is tangent to the innerduct.

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Figure 4 Innerduct in Outer Duct

 d 
θ = arcsin 
D−d

Next calculate the number of innerducts:

2π
N=
2θ

And simplifying yields”

π
N=
θ

Clearly, if 1-1/4-inch innerduct is used, the innerduct itself can accommodate more than one
cable, if the fiber optic cables are 60 strands or less. Multiple cables should also be installed at
the same time, as stated before. Additional cables should not be installed into innerduct with
existing cable except in carefully evaluated situations as stated in my comment above.

Fabric Textile Innerduct: The newest method of segmenting standard four-inch conduits is
textile innerduct. The material allows for greater segmentation thus allowing for potentially
greater utilization of the main conduit. Over the past few years the practice has been to install
up to three, three-inch, three-cell innerduct, for a total of nine cells per four-inch conduit. The

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current practice is not to mix fiber optic cables with copper voice cables. If the conduit with
textile innerduct is reserved only for fiber optic cables, the question then becomes, is this an
efficient use of the infrastructure? The following picture omits the textile innerduct for clarity.
For conduit runs that are reasonably simple and straight it is clear the amount of fiber optic
strands that could be installed into a four-inch conduit, limiting the maximum size to 288 strands
per cable, becomes excessive.

Figure 5 Four Inch Conduit with 288 Strand Single Mode Fiber Optic Cables

Let us examine the percentage of large fiber optic cables installed on a typical project. The
following data was extracted from the Independent Government Cost Model database. Cables
with strand counts of twenty-four or less are treated as building entrance cables and are omitted.

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Number Total
of Normalized Length in Weighted Combined Cable Usage
Cable Purchases Purchases Feet Length Weighting Normalized
IN/OUT 48SM 186 0.2322097 1,655,172 0.307335 0.071366 41.36%
IN/OUT 96SM 147 0.1835206 1,323,234 0.245700 0.045091 26.13%
IN/OUT 144SM 159 0.1985019 1,170,468 0.217334 0.043141 25.00%
IN/OUT 36SM 91 0.1136080 171,550 0.031854 0.003619 2.10%
IN/OUT 288SM 38 0.0474407 366,741 0.068097 0.003231 1.87%
IN/OUT 240SM 44 0.0549313 225,555 0.041881 0.002301 1.33%
IN/OUT 192SM 39 0.0486891 178,903 0.033219 0.001617 0.94%
IN/OUT 120SM 41 0.0511860 166,384 0.030894 0.001581 0.92%
IN/OUT 168SM 21 0.0262172 89,283 0.016578 0.000435 0.25%
IN/OUT 72SM 17 0.0212235 25,883 0.004806 0.000102 0.06%
IN/OUT 156SM 18 0.0224719 12,394 0.002301 0.000052 0.03%

801 1 5,385,567 1.000000 0.172536 100%

Table 1 IN/OUT Normalized Cable Data

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IN/OUT CABLE USAGE NORMALZED

45.00%
41.36%

40.00%

35.00%

30.00%
26.13%
25.00%
25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%
2.10% 1.87% 1.33% 0.94% 0.92% 0.25% 0.06% 0.03%
0.00%

IN/OUT 168SM
IN/OUT 144SM

IN/OUT 288SM

IN/OUT 240SM

IN/OUT 192SM

IN/OUT 120SM

IN/OUT 156SM
IN/OUT 36SM

IN/OUT 72SM
IN/OUT 48SM

IN/OUT 96SM

Chart 1 IN/OUT Normalized Cable Data

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Total
Number of Normalized Length in Weighted Combined Cable Usage
Cable Purchases Purchases Feet Length Weighting Normalized
UG 96SM 169 0.155474 2,182,924 0.234378 0.036440 25.25%
UG 144SM 170 0.156394 2,003,616 0.215126 0.033644 23.31%
UG 48SM 185 0.170193 1,652,203 0.177395 0.030191 20.92%
UG 72SM 194 0.178473 1,415,196 0.151948 0.027119 18.79%
UG 36SM 130 0.119595 522,576 0.056108 0.006710 4.65%
UG 192SM 79 0.072677 712,305 0.076479 0.005558 3.85%
UG 288SM 54 0.049678 434,037 0.046602 0.002315 1.60%
UG 120SM 69 0.063477 285,880 0.030695 0.001948 1.35%
UG 240SM 37 0.034039 104,952 0.011269 0.000384 0.27%

1087 1.000000 9,313,689 1.000000 0.144310 100.00%

Table 2 UG Cable Normalized Cable Data

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 UNDERGROUND BACKBONE CABLE USAGE NORMALZED

30.00%

25.25%
25.00%
23.31%

20.92%

20.00%
18.79%

15.00%

10.00%

4.65%
5.00% 3.85%

1.60% 1.35%
0.27%
0.00%
UG 96SM UG 144SM UG 48SM UG 72SM UG 36SM UG 192SM UG 288SM UG 120SM UG 240SM

Chart 2 UG Cable Normalized Cable Data

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Combining both Underground and In/Out fiber yields the following:

Total Number of Total

Number of UG Puchases IN/OUT Normalized
Purchases Cable IN/OUT (IN/OUT Total Cable Normalized Normalized Combined Cable
Cable (UG Cable) Length Cable Cable Cable) Purchases Length Purchases Length Weights Useage
IN/OUT 6SM 17 25,883 17 25,883 0.004529 0.000963 0.000004 0.000029
UG 12SM 605 3,080,345 IN/OUT 12SM 721 3,224,928 1326 6,305,273 0.353223 0.234613 0.082871 0.560513
UG 24SM 194 2,503,639 IN/OUT 24SM 238 2,065,976 432 4,569,615 0.115077 0.170031 0.019567 0.132343
UG 36SM 130 522,576 IN/OUT 36SM 91 171,550 221 694,126 0.058871 0.025828 0.001520 0.010284
UG 48SM 185 1,652,203 IN/OUT 48SM 186 1,655,172 371 3,307,375 0.098828 0.123064 0.012162 0.082261
UG 72SM 194 1,415,196 IN/OUT 72SM 147 1,323,234 341 2,738,430 0.090836 0.101894 0.009256 0.062603
UG 96SM 169 2,182,924 IN/OUT 96SM 108 1,301,021 277 3,483,945 0.073788 0.129634 0.009565 0.064698
UG 120SM 69 285,880 IN/OUT 120SM 41 166,384 110 452,264 0.029302 0.016828 0.000493 0.003335
UG 144SM 170 2,003,616 IN/OUT 144SM 159 1,170,468 329 3,174,084 0.087640 0.118105 0.010351 0.070009
IN/OUT 156SM 18 12,394 18 12,394 0.004795 0.000461 0.000002 0.000015
IN/OUT 168SM 21 89,283 21 89,283 0.005594 0.003322 0.000019 0.000126
UG 192SM 79 712,305 IN/OUT 192SM 39 178,903 118 891,208 0.031433 0.033161 0.001042 0.007050
UG 240SM 37 104,952 IN/OUT 240SM 44 225,555 81 330,507 0.021577 0.012298 0.000265 0.001795
UG 288SM 54 434,037 IN/OUT 288SM 38 366,741 92 800,778 0.024507 0.029796 0.000730 0.004939

3754 26,875,165 1.000000 1.000000 0.147848 100%

Table 2 UG Combined Cable Normalized Cable Data

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Combined Normalized Cable Useage

40.00%

34.81%
35.00%

30.00%

25.00%
22.00%
21.04%

20.00%

15.89%
15.00%

10.00%

5.00%
1.77% 1.58% 1.12% 0.79% 0.77%
0.21% 0.03%
0.00%
48 Strand 72 Strand 144 Strand 96 Strand 36 Strand 288 Strand 240 Strand 192 Strand 120 Strand 168 Strand 156 Strand

Chart 3 Combined Cable Normalized Cable Data

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From the above analysis we can conclude that the predominate cable sizes are 48 to 144
strands. The only place where there be would a high concentration of large strand fiber
optic cables would be near the communication nodes (MCN and ADN) and only for a
few maintenance hole segments until the cable routes diverge and begin to taper.

The above analysis suggests that the possibility of filling a four-inch conduit with fiber
optic cable is unlikely. Now let us investigate how many fiber optic cables can physically
be placed in various sizes of innerduct. The same formulas for calculating the maximum
number of innerducts in conduit is applied to determining the maximum number of cables
per innerduct. The following table lists the values for standard innerduct.
Inside Outside Internal Cross
Diameter Diameter Sectional Area
(inches) (inches) (square inches)
1" Innerduct 1 1.349 0.7854
1-1/4" Innerduct 1.25 1.55 1.2272
1-1/2" Innerduct 1.61 1.986 2.0358
2" Innerduct 2.067 2.375 3.3556

Table 3 Standard Innerduct Dimensions

The following table lists the standard outside diameter for fiber optic cable, the maximum
number of cables that be placed in a given innerduct under ideal conditions, and the
percent fill for each scenario.
1" 1-1/4" 1-1/2" 2"
Nominal Cross 0.7854 SQ. IN 1.2272 SQ. IN 2.0358 SQ. IN 3.3556 SQ. IN
Outside Sectional Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Fiber Count Range Diameter Area cables Fill cables Fill cables Fill cables Fill
2-60 0.52 0.21237 1 27.04% 3 51.92% 6 62.59% 9 56.96%
61-72 0.54 0.22902 1 29.16% 3 55.99% 5 56.25% 8 54.60%
71-96 0.63 0.31172 1 39.69% 1 25.40% 4 61.25% 6 55.74%
97-120 0.7 0.38485 1 49.00% 1 31.36% 3 56.71% 5 57.34%
121-144 0.76 0.45365 1 57.76% 1 36.97% 2 44.57% 5 67.60%
145-216 0.79 0.49017 1 62.41% 1 39.94% 2 48.15% 4 58.43%
217-240 0.82 0.52810 1 67.24% 1 43.03% 1 25.94% 4 62.95%
241-288 0.91 0.65039 1 82.81% 1 53.00% 1 31.95% 3 58.15%

Table 4 Maximum Number Fiber Optic Cables per Innerduct/Conduit

From the above table we see that the one-inch innerduct can only accommodate a single cable. A
graphical representation of selected cables is depicted below:

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288 288

1.000"/1.349" 1.550"/1.250" 1.968"/1.610" 2.375"/2.067"

144 144
144
144 144 144 144
144 144

1.000"/1.349" 1.550"/1.250" 1.968"/1.610" 2.375"/2.067"

1.000"/1.349" 1.550"/1.250" 1.968"/1.610" 2.375"/2.067"

Figure 6 Selected Cables in 1-1/4”, 1-1/2”, and 2” Innerduct/ Conduit

The above information suggests that a more optimal conduit size for a fiber optic cable
underground infrastructure may not be a four-inch conduit segmented with either rigid,
corrugated flexible, or fabric textile innerduct.

Other Influencing Factors: Before an alternative design method is presented, we should

consider developments in voice, data, and converged networks. As copper prices continue to
climb and the cost of multiplexing over fiber, using Dense Wave Division Multiplexing
(DWDM), becomes more attractive, the need for large copper trunk and distribution cables
decreases. Buildings with large voice user requirements could more easily and affordably be
serviced by placing a remote line self in each building and connecting them to the Dial Central
Office (DCO) via fiber optic cable. Buildings requiring less than four-hundred lines could be
connected using copper cable. To be accurate and correct, a cost benefit analysis should be done
comparing using traditional copper cable from the DCO verses using a remote line self
connected with fiber optic cable based on the total number of lines. Also, with the advances in
data network technology the data rates have increased beyond the physical and practical limits of
copper cable. Even with exotic shielded twist-pair technology used to increase the distances that
can be support by copper, copper cable simply can no longer meet the faster data rate demands
nor even remotely come close to spanning the distances that are easily covered by single mode
fiber optic cable.

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Converged networks most always incorporate various flavors of DWDM. Since DWDM allows
for higher bandwidths over two strands of fiber, the future need for very large fiber optic cables
will also diminish. Only small strand fiber optic cables would be required in the core network.

An Alternate Approach: Realizing that most of the volume of a four-inch conduit dedicated to
fiber optic cables, partitioned with textile innerduct, may never be fully exploited, an alternate
approach should be considered. A suggested alternative method would be to replace the four-
inch conduit with a two-inch four-way conduit system. The aforementioned system fits in the
standard maintenance hole knock out and would provide a rigid wall of separation between fiber
optic cables and copper cables. One of conduits in a two-inch four-way system can
accommodate copper cables up to P4-24PF. Although a 1-1/4-inch six-way system is available,
it would require a modification to the standard knock to be used and would not be able to
accommodate copper cables larger than P1-24PF.

There is an advantage to using two-inch four-way system in lieu of using four-inch conduit
partitioned with textile innerduct. Since fiber optic cables are smaller and lighter than copper
communication cables, and since fiber can be pulled or blown distances greater than 600-foot
maintenance hole spacing limit, one or all of the two-inch conduits could be connected through
the maintenance hole. Connecting the conduits through the maintenance hole would reduce the
number of maintenance holes would have to be entered during cable installation and would be
extremely advantageous when blown fiber installation methods are employed. With textile
innerduct, every maintenance hole in the pathway would have to be entered during cable
installation.

Finally, in the presentation we noted several small fiber optic cables can be placed in a two-inch
conduit. For larger cables where up to three cables wound fill the conduit, the cables could be
installed without the need for separation, following the suggested guidance of Corning Cable
Systems. With conduits potentially holding more than three fiber optic cables or continuing
with the practice of 100% separation between cables, a smaller version of fabric textile innerduct
is available.

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