A Labor-Saving Method of Pipe Uplifting Countermeasure with Geocell-Geotextile Combination

Abstract

In this study, we proposed a new method which mitigates pipe uplifting by utilizing geocells and geotextiles. The method resulted in labor saving in construction. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we reproduced pipe uplift by conducting push-up tests using a 150-mm-diameter pipe. The test results showed that the proposed method increased the peak resistance and the resistance at large displacement by 1.47 and 3.35 times, respectively, compared to the unreinforced method. The proposed method also increased the peak resistance by 1.13 times compared to the conventional method widely used in Japan. It demonstrated consistently high resistance even after the peak. This indicated that the proposed method is very effective as a countermeasure against pipe uplift. Furthermore, increasing the overall width of the geocell improved the resistance. In this study, two different approaches were used to evaluate the uplift resistance of the pipe. The approaches showed that, with geocell reinforcement, most of the dead weight at the pipe sides and above them contributed to the peak resistance. It was also found that the peak resistance of the proposed method can be predicted to some extent by modifying the previously proposed equation.