Pipe-Soil Interaction Model Incorporating Large Lateral Displacements in Calcareous Sand
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 3
Abstract
The use of the plasticity theory offers an attractive framework to encapsulate the behavior of a pipe and the underlying soil in terminology consistent with pipeline structural analysis. Models that express the pipe-soil behavior purely in terms of the loads on a segment of pipe and the corresponding displacements have been suggested, although verification with geotechnical centrifuge experiments has been limited to relatively small lateral displacements (i.e., less than two pipe diameters). Over larger movements, the berms that build up alongside the pipe affect the load-displacement behavior, with existing strain-hardening plasticity models incapable of simulating this transition. This technical note provides experimental evidence of pipe-soil behavior for lateral displacements for up to five diameters. It further presents observations from 20 centrifuge experiments of a prototype 1-m-diameter pipe in calcareous sand. The results are used to validate the modification of a pipe-soil model to include the horizontal displacement hardening of the yield surface. Retrospective numerical simulations of the centrifuge experiments verify the modified model’s performances for lateral displacements of up to five diameters which was also the extent of the centrifuge experiments. This incorporation of large lateral displacements has significant application in on-bottom stability analysis as displacement-based design becomes more prevalent.
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Acknowledgments
This research was conducted within the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Wealth from Oceans Flagship Cluster on Subsea Pipelines with funding from the CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund. The contribution of Univ. of Western Australia Centrifuge Manager Professor Christophe Gaudin and Beam Centrifuge Technician Mr. Don Herley in performing the tests is acknowledged and appreciated. Support to the second writer from the Australian Research Council’s Future Fellowship scheme is appreciated.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 3 • March 2011
Pages: 279 - 287
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 23, 2009
Accepted: Aug 12, 2010
Published online: Feb 15, 2011
Published in print: Mar 1, 2011
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