Thermal Upheaval Buckling of Buried Pipelines: Experimental Behavior and Numerical Modeling
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12, Issue 1
Abstract
Pipelines transporting oil and natural gas may experience upheaval buckling due to substantial compressive forces induced by high temperature and pressure of the fluid content. Such upheaval buckling may pose a major threat to the structural integrity, safety, and operability of pipelines. This study presents results from a series of scaled physical model tests conducted to investigate the uplift behavior and upheaval buckling of buried pipelines. The first set of experiments investigated the resistance force during vertical pullout for different pipe geometries, embedment depths, and relative densities of sand. The second set of experiments investigated the development of global upheaval buckling due to high axial compression of a buried pipe. The study examined the effect of embedment depth on the buckling characteristics and the postbuckling behavior of the pipe. Numerical analyses simulated the experiments and validated the numerical models. A parametric investigation based on rigorous numerical simulations examined the effect of trench-base initial imperfection, internal pressure, and soil strength on the upheaval buckling resistance. The results showed that as the geometric imperfection amplitude increased and its distribution length decreased, the upheaval buckling resistance substantially decreased. Similarly, an increase of the internal pressure of the pipeline may significantly decrease upheaval buckling resistance.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This research is cofinanced by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Program Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014–2020 in the context of the project Numerical and Experimental Modeling of Global Buckling of Underground Pipelines due to High Pressure and Temperature (MIS 5005623).
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12 • Issue 1 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 30, 2020
Accepted: Jul 6, 2020
Published online: Sep 18, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 18, 2021
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