Tunneling beneath Buried Pipes: View of Soil Strain and Its Effect on Pipeline Behavior
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 12
Abstract
The paper examines the problem of tunneling beneath buried pipelines and the relationship between soil strains and pipeline bending behavior. Data are presented from centrifuge tests in which tunnel volume loss was induced in sand beneath pipelines of varying stiffness properties. The model tunnel and pipelines were all placed at a Perspex wall of the centrifuge strong box such that image-based deformation analyses could be performed. The method provided detailed data of subsurface soil and pipe displacements and illustrated the soil-pipe interaction mechanisms that occurred during tunnel volume loss, including the formation of a gap beneath the pipes. The relationship between tunnel volume loss, soil strain, and pipe bending behavior is illustrated. Experimental results of pipe bending moments are compared against predictions: (1) assuming the pipe simply follows greenfield displacements; (2) using an elastic continuum solution; and (3) using a new method in which an “out-of-plane” shear argument, due to soil-pipe interaction, is introduced into the elastic continuum solution. It is shown that the new method gives the best prediction of experimental pipe bending moments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 12 • December 2010
Pages: 1664 - 1672
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: May 27, 2009
Accepted: May 12, 2010
Published online: May 15, 2010
Published in print: Dec 2010
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