Reliability Analysis of Buried Flexible Pipe-Soil Systems

Abstract

Reliability analysis of the buried flexible pipe-soil system is performed from three different failure criteria: ͑1͒ deflection; ͑2͒ buckling; and ͑3͒ wall thrust. The response surface methodology is used to establish approximate functional relationships between input variables and output responses and reliability analysis is performed using first-order reliability method approach. The available analytical solutions as well as the results of the numerical analysis are used in the reliability analysis and results are discussed. A comparison of results of the reliability analysis of the buried pipe-soil system in the light of available deterministic solutions indicated that the probabilistic approach, which considers variability in the input parameters provides a means of understanding of the performance of the buried pipe-soil system.

Application of subset simulation in reliability estimation of underground pipelines

“…Considering the failure probability of 0.1 (10%) as a threshold level for the safe service life (Babu and Srivastava, 2010), the study illustrates that the safe service life in the worst case scenario is about 50 years.…”

“…Buckling is a premature failure in which the pipe is not able to maintain its initial circular shape and the structure becomes unstable at a stress level that is well below the yield strength of the structural material (Sivakumar Babu and Srivastava, 2010). The actual buckling pressure should be less than the critical buckling pressure for the safety of structure.…”

“…Methods of reliability analysis such as first order reliability method (FORM), second-order reliability method (SORM), point estimate method (PEM), Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), gamma process, probability density evolution method (PDEM), etc. are available in literature (Sivakumar Babu and Srivastava, 2010;Mahmoodian et al, 2012;Fang et al, 2013aFang et al, , 2013b. In this context, a robust uncertainty propagation method whose applicability is insensitive to complexity nature of the problem is most desirable.…”

System reliability analysis for anchor-stabilised slopes considering stochastic corrosion of anchors

“…Recently, system reliability analysis has gained increasing attention in geotechnical engineering (Babu & Srivastava, 2010;Basha & Babu, 2010;Jiang et al, 2014;Li, Jiang, Chen, & Zhou, 2011;Li, Phoon, Wu, Chen, & Zhou, 2013;Li, Zhou, Lu, & Jiang, 2009;Low et al, 2011). Li et al (2009) analysed the system reliability for evaluating the stabilities of rock wedges using an Ndimensional equivalent method, which demonstrated that the probability of failure would be overestimated if the correlations between different failure modes of the wedge were not considered.…”

“…Li et al (2009) analysed the system reliability for evaluating the stabilities of rock wedges using an Ndimensional equivalent method, which demonstrated that the probability of failure would be overestimated if the correlations between different failure modes of the wedge were not considered. Babu and Srivastava (2010) employed response surface methodology to calculate the reliability indices of a buried flexible pipe-soil system from three different failure criteria. Basha and Babu (2010) analysed the soil uncertainties associated with horizontal seismic acceleration and surcharge load in the seismic analysis of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls under three failure modes.…”