Modulus of Soil Reaction Values for Pipeline Design
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 1
Abstract
The design of buried flexible pipe involves checking for load-induced deflection, buckling strength, strain or stress under internal pressure, strain or stress from combined loading, and handling stiffness. Most of these design checks involve using the design parameter commonly referred to as the modulus of soil reaction, Despite the fact that modified Spangler’s equation has been around for over several decades, few engineers in practice even know how this is defined let alone how to obtain a proper value for it. The most popular form for comes from the empirical data published by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and most consensus standards carry these values despite its numerous shortcomings. The irony is that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation knew that their data were providing values of varying several hundred percent from a mean value, yet, never even considered other factors that would be significant in explaining their unreliable values. The pure simplicity of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation values led to these being in use in the hands of the pipe supplier and never its engineering soundness. The purpose of this paper is to start from the fundamental pipe–soil interaction principles and geotechnical engineering and build the engineering know how needed to establish values on a project-specific basis allowing for most significant factors. A step-by-step methodology is presented.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Allgood, J. F., and Takahashi, H. (1972). “Balanced design and finite element analysis of culverts.” Highway Research Record No. 413, 44–56.
ATV-DVWK German Association for Water, Wastewater, and Waste Management. (1984). “Richtlinie fur die statische berechnung von entwasserungskanalen und-leitungen.” ATV-A-127, Berlin.
Chambers, R. F., McGrath, T. J., and Heger, F. J. (1980). “Plastic pipe for subsurface drainage of transportation facilities.” National Corporative Highway Research Program, Transportation Research Board Rep. No. 225, 122–140.
Contech Construction Products, Incorporated. (1986). “Armco truss pipe.” Product literature, Middleton, Ohio.
Donahue and Associates, Incorporated. (1979). “PVC sewer pipe deflection.” Sheboygan, Wis.
Hartley, J. D., and Duncan, J. M.(1987). “ and its variation with depth.” J. Transp. Eng., 113(5), 538–553.
Howard, A. K. (1997). “Modulus of soil reaction values for buried flexible pipe.” Engineering and Research Center, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver.
Jaramillo, P. A. (1989). “Review of field deflections of plastic pipes under soil loads.” MS thesis, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.
Jeyapalan, J. K. (1993). “Analysis and design of direct burial sections of San Diego County Water Authority’s pipeline extension No. 4.” Proc., ASCE Infrastructure Conf. II, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, 416–529.
Jeyapalan, J. K., and Jaramillo, P. A. (1994). “New modulus of soil reaction— values for buried thermoplastic pipe design.” Proc., ASCE Conf. on Hydraulics of Pipelines, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, 239–260.
Krizek, R. J., Parmalee, R. A., Kay, J. N., and Elnaggar, H. A. (1971). “Structural analysis and design of pipe culverts.” Highway Research Board, Rep. No. 116, National Cooperation Highway Research Program, 155.
Leonhardt, G. (1973). “Die belastung von starren rohrleitungen unter dammen.” PhD thesis, Univ. of Hanover, Hanover, Germany.
Meyerhof, G. G. (1966). “Composite design of shallow-buried steel structures.” Proc., 47th Annual Convention of the Canadian Good Roads Association, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
National Clay Pipe Institute. (1988). “Unpublished field deflection test data on numerous sites in the U.S.” National Clay Pipe Institute, Lake Geneva, Wis.
Nielson, F. D. (1967). “Modulus of soil reaction as determined from triaxial shear test.” Highway Research Record No. 185, 80–90.
Shafer, G. E.(1948). “Discussion: Underground conduits—An appraisal of modern research.” Trans. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 113, 354–363.
Spangler, M. G. (1941). “The structural design of flexible pipe culverts.” Iowa Engineering Experiment Station, Bulletin 153, Ames, Iowa.
Spangler, M. G. (1969). “Discussion: Rebuilt Wolf Creek culvert behavior.” Highway Research Record No. 262, 10–13.
Watkins, R. K. (2000). “Selected topics of interest.” Proc., Seminars on Steel Pipe Design, Steel Plate Fabricators Association.
Watkins, R. K., and Nielson, F. D.(1964). “Development and use of the modpares device.” Proc. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 155–178.
Watkins, R. K., and Spangler, M. G. (1958). “Some characteristics of the modulus of passive resistance of soil: A study in similitude.” Proc., Highway Research Record, Cincinnati, 576–583.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 5, 2001
Accepted: Feb 3, 2003
Published online: Dec 15, 2003
Published in print: Jan 2004
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.