Buried Pipelines Subjected to Transverse Ground Movement: Comparison Between Full-Scale Testing and Numerical Modeling

Abstract

A research program has been undertaken to study the behaviour of buried steel pipelines subject to lateral horizontal ground movements, and to provide appropriate data to calibrate and validate numerical model(s). A large sand chamber (2.5 m W × 3.8 m L × 2.5 m H) available at the University of British Columbia was employed to conduct full-scale lateral pullout tests on steel pipelines, with different diameters and buried in sand simulating different overburden ratios. Numerical analyses were performed using finite-difference-method-based software with the soil response simulated using Mohr-Coulomb and hyperbolic elastic constitutive models. The input parameters for the initial computer modeling were based only on element testing results. The numerical predictions, using the two soil constitutive models, are compared with the results of lateral pullout tests. The numerical model, after validation with full-scale test results can be used to predict soil loads on pipe for different overburden ratios, pipe sizes and soil properties.

An efficient numerical approach for simulating soil-pipe interaction behaviour under cyclic loading

“…Daiyan et al 2011), and axial displacement under monotonic (e.g. Scarpelli et al 2003, Anderson et al 2004, Karimian 2006, Wijewickreme et al 2009, Sarvanis et al 2018, Al-Khazaali and Vanapalli 2018 and cyclic conditions (Weidlich and Achmus 2008, Bilgin et al 2009, 2012, White et al 2011, Huber and Wijewickreme 2014, Sheil et al 2018. ALA ( 2001) is a widely used design guideline and defines four main contributions of soil restraint on a buried pipe, namely (a) axial, (b) vertical-uplift, (c) vertical-bearing and (d) lateral.…”

“…For shallow embedment depths, normal contact stresses at the pipe crown and springline can be significantly lower than those at the invert due to the combined weight of the pipe and transported medium. This leads to a range of complex SPI phenomena such as volumetric compaction and dilation, shear stress hardening and softening under axial monotonic loading (Karimian 2006, Wijewickreme et al 2009, Sarvanis et al 2018, Al-Khazaali and Vanapalli 2018, normal and shear contact stress degradation, stress stabilization and accumulative contraction under cyclic loading (Weidlich and Achmus 2008, Bilgin et al 2009, Huber and Wijewickreme 2014, Sheil et al 2018. Cyclic axial loading of pipes buried in granular soils may also cause particle breakage, which can significantly affect the circumferential distribution of normal contact stress acting on the pipe.…”

Study on Disaster Mechanism of Oil and Gas Pipeline Oblique Crossing Landslide

“…Georgiadis et al [21] carried out an analysis experiment on the response state of the pipeline and believed that the decisive factor of the force on the pipeline was the sliding velocity of the sliding body. Yoshizaki and Karimain et al [22,23] studied the force law of the pipeline under the action of backfill soil and sliding body through a series of experiments; they believed that backfill material with light density could significantly reduce the influence of the sliding body on the damage of the pipeline. Yatabe [24] used Abaqus to establish a pipeline landslide model and analyzed the displacement variation rule of elbow under large ground deformation.…”

Response analysis of the nodes of pipe networks under seismic load

“…The study into the mechanical research methods of an underground pipe during an earthquake includes numerical analysis, theoretical calculation and experimental research currently. For numerical analysis, most scholars use the finite element method [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. One common point of these studies is that scholars only focus on a single type of straight pipe, but not on elbows and tees of the pipe network.…”