Uplift Mechanisms of Pipes Buried in Sand
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 2
Abstract
Reliable design against upheaval buckling of offshore pipelines requires the uplift response to be predicted. This paper describes a model-scale investigation into the mechanisms by which uplift resistance is mobilized in silica sand, and illustrates how the observed mechanisms are captured in prediction models. A novel image-based deformation measurement technique has been used. The results show that peak uplift resistance is mobilized through the formation of an inverted trapezoidal block, bounded by a pair of distributed shear zones. The inclination of the shear zone is dependent on the soil density, and therefore dilatancy. After peak resistance, shear bands form and softening behavior is observed. At large pipe displacements, either a combination of a vertical sliding block mechanism and a flow-around mechanism near the pipe or a localized flow-around mechanism without surface heave is observed, depending on the soil density and particle size.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bolton, M. D. (1986). “The strength and dilatancy of sands.” Geotechnique, 36(1), 65–78.
Bransby, M. F., Newson, T. A., Brunning, P., and Davies, M. C. R. (2001). “Numerical and centrifuge modeling of the upheaval resistance of buried pipelines.” Proc., 20th Int. Conf. on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Cheuk, C. Y. (2005). “Soil-pipeline interaction at the seabed.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
Chin, E. L., Craig, W. H., and Cruickshank, M. (2006). “Uplift resistance of pipelines buried in cohesionless soil.” Proc., 6th Int. Conf. on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics. Ng, Zhang, and Wang, eds., Vol. 1, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 723–728.
Cousens, T. W. (1980). “The gravity flow of bulk solids in bunkers.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
Dickin, E. A. (1994). “Uplift resistance of buried pipelines in sand.” Soils Found., 34(2), 41–48.
Hooper, J., Maschnes, E., and Farrant, T. (2004). “Penguin pipeline system—Design challenges for the world’s longest snaked lay HP/HT PIP tie-back.” Offshore Pipeline Technology Conf., Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Lee, S. Y. (1989). “Centrifuge modeling of cone penetration testing in cohesionless soils.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
Mak, K. W. (1983). “Some centrifugal test results on the grain size effect in physical modelling.” Geotechnical Group Technical Rep. No. 140, Cambridge Univ. Engineering Dept., Cambridge, U.K.
Ng, C. W. W., and Springman, S. M. (1994). “Uplift resistance of buried pipelines in granular materials.” Centrifuge 94, Leung, Lee, and Tan, eds., 753–758.
Randolph, M. F., and Houlsby, G. T. (1984). “The limiting pressure on a circular pile loaded laterally in cohesive soil.” Geotechnique, 34(4), 613–623.
Rowe, P. W. (1962). “The stress-dilatancy relation for static equilibrium of an assembly of particles in contact.” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 269, 500–527.
Schaminée, P. E. L., Zorn, N. F., and Schotman, G. J. M. (1990). “Soil response for pipeline upheaval buckling analyses: Full-scale laboratory tests and modeling.” Proc., 22nd Annual Offshore Technology Conf., OTC6486, 563–572.
Schupp, J., Byrne, B. W., Eacott, N., Martin, C. M., Oliphant, J., Maconochie, A., and Cathie, D. (2006). “Pipeline unburial behaviour in loose sand.” Proc., 25th Int. Conf. on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Hamburg, Germany, OMAE2006-92541.
Stone, K. J. L., and Newson, T. A. (2006). “Uplift resistance of buried pipelines: An investigation of scale effects in model tests.” Proc., 6th Int. Conf. on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics, Ng, Zhang, and Wang, eds., Vol. 1, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 741–746.
Stroud, M. A. (1971). “Sand at low stress levels in the simple shear apparatus.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
Take, W. A. (2003). “The influence of seasonal moisture cycles on clay slopes.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
Trautmann, C. H., O’Rourke, T. D., and Kulhawy, F. H. (1985). “Uplift force-displacement response of buried pipe.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 111(9), 1061–1076.
Vanden Berghe, J. F., Cathie, D., and Ballard, J. C. (2005). “Pipeline uplift mechanisms using finite element analysis.” Proc., 16th Int. Conf. of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Osaka, Japan, 1801–1804.
Vermeer, P. A., and Sutjiadi, W. (1985). “The uplift resistance of shallow embedded anchors.” Proc., of 11th Int. Conf. of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 3, San Francisco, 1635–1638.
White, D. J. (2002). “An investigation into the behaviour of pressed-in piles.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
White, D. J., Barefoot, A. J., and Bolton, M. D. (2001). “Centrifuge modeling of upheaval buckling in sand.” Int. J. Physical Modeling in Geotechnics, 2(1), 19–28.
White, D. J., Randolph, M. F., and Thompson, B. (2005). “An image-based deformation measurement system for the geotechnical centrifuge.” Int. J. Physical Modeling in Geotechnics, 5(3), 1–12.
White, D. J., Take, W. A., and Bolton, M. D. (2003). “Soil deformation measurement using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and photogrammetry.” Geotechnique, 53(7), 619–631.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 2 • February 2008
Pages: 154 - 163
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 21, 2006
Accepted: Apr 10, 2007
Published online: Feb 1, 2008
Published in print: Feb 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.