Experimental Study of External Pipe Wall Erosion due to Water Pipe Leakage
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 14, Issue 1
Abstract
Burst pipes can cause severe pressure drops and water pollution in water distribution networks. Small leaks can develop into pipe bursts over time due to interactions between pipes, water, and soil. This paper presents preliminary experimental results on the erosion of the outer wall of a pipe by solid particles when a leak occurs in a pressurized pipe and causes soil fluidization. A series of experiments were carried out with 50-mm-diameter and 3-mm-wall-thickness polyethylene (PE) pipes with various leak holes buried in silica sand bedding. The experiments investigated the effects of the leak size, shape, and direction on the erosion process. The findings indicated that the size of the leaks had the greatest impact on erosion rate, and erosion rate was nearly completely unaffected by the geometry of the leak hole or leak orientation.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51878597) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52070165).
References
Amaya-Gomez, R., M. Sanchez-Silva, E. Bastidas-Arteaga, F. Schoefs, and F. Munoz. 2019. “Reliability assessments of corroded pipelines based on internal pressure—A review.” Eng. Fail. Anal. 98 (Apr): 190–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.01.064.
Aquaro, D., and E. Fontani. 2001. “Erosion of ductile and brittle materials.” Meccanica 36 (6): 651–661. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016396719711.
Chen, Y., H. Wu, Y. Chen, P. Li, and Q. Wang. 2022. “Erosion—Corrosion coupling analysis of shale gas production pipe.” Eng. Fail. Anal. 138 (Aug): 106308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2022.106308.
Cheng, W., Y. Chen, and G. Xu. 2020. “Optimizing sensor placement and quantity for pipe burst detection in a water distribution network.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 146 (11): 04020088. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001298.
CS (Chinese Standards). 2018. Polyethylene (PE) pipe for the water supply systems. GB/T 13663.2-2018. Taiwan: CS.
Gent, M., M. Menendez, S. Torno, J. Torano, and A. Schenk. 2012. “Experimental evaluation of the physical properties required of abrasives for optimizing waterjet cutting of ductile materials.” Wear 284 (Apr): 43–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2012.02.012.
Guo, S. 2012. “Study on infiltration and soil erosion in sewer systems.” Ph.D. thesis, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Univ.
He, Y., D. Z. Zhu, T. Zhang, Y. Shao, and T. Yu. 2017. “Experimental observations on the initiation of sand-bed erosion by an upward water jet.” J. Hydraul. Eng. 143 (7): 06017007. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001302.
Hong, B., Y. Li, X. Li, S. Ji, Y. Yu, D. Fan, Y. Qian, J. Guo, and J. Gong. 2021. “Numerical simulation of gas-solid two-phase erosion for elbow and tee pipe in gas field.” Energies 14 (20): 6609. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206609.
Ledwith, C., R. N. Weisman, and G. P. Lennon. 1990. “Selection of hole size for fluidization pipes.” In Hydraulic engineering, 933–938. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Ma, C. 2011. Internal fluidisation due to horizontal seepage—A laboratory study. Southampton, UK: Univ. of Southampton.
Najafi, M., A. Habibian, and F. Sever. 2015. Durability and reliability of large diameter HDPE pipe for water main applications. Denver: Water Research Foundation.
Oka, Y. I., K. Okamura, and T. Yoshida. 2005. “Practical estimation of erosion damage caused by solid particle impact—Part 1: Effects of impact parameters on a predictive equation.” Wear 259 (1–6): 95–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2005.01.039.
Oka, Y. I., and T. Yoshida. 2005. “Practical estimation of erosion damage caused by solid particle impact—Part 2: Mechanical properties of materials directly associated with erosion damage.” Wear 259 (1–6): 102–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2005.01.040.
Pike, S. 2016. “Experimental investigation of leakage-induced pipe erosion outside of pipe leaks.” Master’s thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Cape Town.
Pike, S. M., J. E. van Zyl, and C. R. I. Clayton. 2018. “Scouring damage to buried pipes caused by leakage jets: Experimental study.” J. Pipeline Syst. Eng. Pract. 9 (4): 04018020. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)PS.1949-1204.0000328.
Qi, Z., F. Zheng, D. Guo, T. Zhang, Y. Shao, T. Yu, K. Zhang, and H. R. Maier. 2018. “A comprehensive framework to evaluate hydraulic and water quality impacts of pipe breaks on water distribution systems.” Water Resour. Res. 54 (10): 8174–8195. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR022736.
Skill Link. 2009. ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 Manual. Theory Guide, 167–173. Canonsburg, PA: ANSYS.
Tang, Y., D. H. Chan, and D. Z. Zhu. 2017. “Numerical investigation of sand-bed erosion by an upward water jet.” J. Eng. Mech. 143 (9): 04017104. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001319.
van Zyl, J. E., M. O. A. Alsaydalani, C. R. I. Clayton, T. Bird, and A. Dennis. 2013. “Soil fluidisation outside leaks in water distribution pipes—Preliminary observations.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Water Manage. 166 (10): 546–555. https://doi.org/10.1680/wama.11.00119.
Wang, H., Y. Yu, Y. Xu, S. Zhang, and X. Li. 2022. “A simple approach for coarse particle stress-erosion test with experimental validation.” J. Mater. Eng. Perform. 31 (7): 5823–5836. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-022-06623-9.
Zhong, L., G. Feng, J. Zhang, and G. Wei. 2021. “Influence law of erosion wear of blowdown valve based on CFD numerical simulation.” J. Drain. Irrig. Mach. Eng. 39 (2): 151–157. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8530.20.0033.
Zhou, X., Z. Tang, W. Xu, F. Meng, X. Chu, K. Xin, and G. Fu. 2019. “Deep learning identifies accurate burst locations in water distribution networks.” Water Res. 166 (Dec): 115058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2019.115058.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 16, 2022
Accepted: Oct 11, 2022
Published online: Nov 28, 2022
Published in print: Feb 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Apr 28, 2023
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.