Acoustic Emission Sensing of Pipe–Soil Interaction: Full-Scale Pipelines Subjected to Differential Ground Movements
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 12
Abstract
This paper presents the first full-scale demonstration of the potential use of pipe–soil interaction-generated acoustic emission (AE) for early detection of buried pipe deformation. Full-scale tests were performed at the buried infrastructure research facility at Queen’s University, Canada, using a split box apparatus to impose differential ground motion on a steel pipe buried in dry sand, and to investigate the influence of stress level and patterns of deformation on AE generation. The pipe was instrumented with AE sensors, strain gauges, fiber optic strain sensing, and linear potentiometers, and surface deformation was measured using an automatic total station. AE measurements were used to interpret the evolution of the pipe–soil interaction behavior. AE activity correlated strongly ( from 0.83 to 0.99) with both the rate and magnitude of pipe deformation at different burial depths, and quantified relationships are presented that enable interpretation of pipe–soil interaction behavior from AE measurements.
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 code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (displacement, strain, and acoustic emission measurements).
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the excellent assistance in performing the split box experiments provided by Graeme Boyd, Josh Coghlan, Brian Westervelt, Haitao Lan, Pengpeng Ni, Hendrik Williams, Anderson de Olivera, and Gregor Browning. Alister Smith gratefully acknowledges the support of a UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Fellowship (Listening to Infrastructure, EP/P012493/1). The testing at Queen’s was supported with funds to Ian Moore through a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Infrastructure Operating Funds from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
References
Abdoun, T. H., D. Ha, M. J. O’Rourke, M. D. Symans, T. D. O’Rourke, M. C. Palmer, and H. E. Stewart. 2009. “Factors influencing the behavior of buried pipelines subjected to earthquake faulting.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 29 (3): 415–427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2008.04.006.
Anastasopoulos, I., G. Gazetas, M. F. Bransby, M. C. R. Davies, and A. El Nahas. 2007. “Fault rupture propagation through sand: Finite-element analysis and validation through centrifuge experiments.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 133 (8): 943–958. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2007)133:8(943).
Berg, N., A. Smith, S. Russell, N. Dixon, D. Proudfoot, and W. A. Take. 2018. “Correlation of acoustic emissions with patterns of movement in an extremely slow moving landslide at Peace River, Alberta, Canada.” Can. Geotech. J. 55 (10): 1475–1488. https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2016-0668.
Bransby, M. F., E. L. Nahas, E. Turner, and M. C. R. Davies. 2007. “The interaction of reverse faults with flexible continuous pipelines.” Int. J. Physical Modell. Geotech. 7 (3): 25–40. https://doi.org/10.1680/ijpmg.2007.070302.
Cheuk, C. Y., D. J. White, and M. D. Bolton. 2008. “Uplift mechanisms of pipes buried in sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 134 (2): 154–163. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2008)134:2(154).
Dixon, N., A. Smith, J. A. Flint, R. Khanna, B. Clark, and M. Andjelkovic. 2018. “An acoustic emission landslide early warning system for communities in low-income and middle-income countries.” Landslides 15 (8): 1631–1644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-0977-1.
Dixon, N., A. Smith, M. Spriggs, A. Ridley, P. Meldrum, and E. Haslam. 2015b. “Stability monitoring of a rail slope using acoustic emission.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Geotech. Eng. 168 (5): 373–384. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeen.14.00152.
Dixon, N., M. P. Spriggs, A. Smith, P. Meldrum, and E. Haslam. 2015a. “Quantification of reactivated landslide behaviour using acoustic emission monitoring.” Landslides 12 (3): 549–560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0491-z.
Garga, V. K., and A. Chichibu. 1990. “A study of AE parameters and shear strength of sand.” In Vol. 5 of Progress in Acoustic Emission V. The 10th Int. Acoustic Emission Symp., edited by K., Yamaguchi, H. Takahasi, and H. Niitsuma, 129–136. Tokyo: The Japanese Society of Non-Destructive Inspection.
Groves, J., and D. Wijewickreme. 2013. “Field monitoring of buried polyethylene natural gas pipelines subjected to ground movement.” In GéoMontréal 2013, Proc., 66th Canadian Geotechnical Conf. and the 11th Joint CGS/IAH-CNC Groundwater Conf. Ottawa: Canadian Geotechnical Society.
Heather-Smith, H. J., A. Smith, N. Dixon, J. A. Flint, and J. Wordingham. 2018. “Monitoring buried infrastructure deformation using acoustic emissions.” In Proc., 9th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring. Northampton, UK: British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing.
Karamitros, D. K., G. D. Bouckovalas, and G. P. Kouretzis. 2007. “Stress analysis of buried steel pipelines at strike-slip fault crossings.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 27 (3): 200–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2006.08.001.
Koerner, R. M., A. E. Lord, Jr., and W. L. Deutsch. 1984. “Determination of prestress in granular soils using AE.” J. Geotech. Eng. 110 (3): 346–358. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1984)110:3(346).
Koerner, R. M., A. E. Lord, Jr., W. M. Mccabe, and J. W. Curran. 1976. “Acoustic emission behavior of granular soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 102 (7): 761–773.
Koerner, R. M., A. E. Lord, Jr., and W. M. McCabe. 1978. “Acoustic emission monitoring of soil stability.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 104 (5): 571–582.
Koerner, R. M., W. M. McCabe, and A. E. Lord. 1981. “Acoustic emission behavior and monitoring of soils.” In Acoustic emissions in geotechnical engineering practice. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Mao, W., S. Aoyama, S. Goto, and I. Towhata. 2015. “Acoustic emission characteristics of subsoil subjected to vertical pile loading in sand.” J. Appl. Geophys. 119 (Aug): 119–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jappgeo.2015.05.017.
Mao, W., S. Aoyama, S. Goto, and I. Towhata. 2016. “Behaviour and frequency characteristics of acoustic emissions from sandy ground under model pile penetration.” Near Surf. Geophys. 14 (6): 515–525. https://doi.org/10.3997/1873-0604.2016038.
Mao, W., S. Aoyama, and I. Towhata. 2018. “Feasibility study of using acoustic emission signals for investigation of pile spacing effect on group pile behaviour.” Appl. Acoust. 139 (Oct): 189–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2018.05.001.
Michlmayr, G., A. Chalari, A. Clarke, and D. Or. 2017. “Fiber-optic high-resolution acoustic emission (AE) monitoring of slope failure.” Landslides 14 (3): 1139–1146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-016-0776-5.
Mitchell, R. J., and P. M. Romeril. 1984. “Acoustic emission distress monitoring in sensitive clay.” Can. Geotech. J. 21 (1): 176–180. https://doi.org/10.1139/t84-014.
Ni, P., I. D. Moore, and W. A. Take. 2014. “Normal fault induced ground deformations and the associated bending response of buried pipelines.” In Proc., 2nd European Conf. on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. Istanbul, Turkey: Bogaziçi Univ.
Ni, P., I. D. Moore, and W. A. Take. 2017. “Distributed fibre optic sensing of strains on buried full-scale PVC pipelines crossing a normal fault.” Géotechnique 68 (1): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.16.P.161.
Ni, P., I. D. Moore, and W. A. Take. 2018. “Numerical modeling of normal fault-pipeline interaction and comparison with centrifuge tests.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 105 (Feb): 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2017.10.011.
Pollock, A. A. 1973. “Acoustic emission-2: Acoustic emission amplitudes.” Non-Destr. Test. 6 (5): 264–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/0029-1021(73)90074-1.
Robert, D. J., K. Soga, and T. D. O’Rourke. 2016. “Pipelines subjected to fault movement in dry and unsaturated soils.” Int. J. Geomech. 16 (5): C4016001. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000548.
Saiyar, M., P. Ni, W. A. Take, and I. D. Moore. 2016. “Response of pipelines of differing flexural stiffness to normal faulting.” Géotechnique 66 (4): 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.14.P.175.
Shiotani, T., and M. Ohtsu. 1999. “Prediction of slope failure based on AE activity.” In Acoustic emission: Standards and technology update. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Smith, A., and N. Dixon. 2015. “Quantification of landslide velocity from active waveguide: Generated acoustic emission.” Can. Geotech. J. 52 (4): 413–425. https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2014-0226.
Smith, A., and N. Dixon. 2019. “Acoustic emission behaviour of dense sands.” Géotechnique. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.18.P.209.
Smith, A., N. Dixon, and G. Fowmes. 2017a. “Early detection of first-time slope failures using acoustic emission measurements: Large-scale physical modelling.” Géotechnique 67 (2): 138–152. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.15.P.200.
Smith, A., N. Dixon, and G. Fowmes. 2017b. “Monitoring buried pipe deformation using acoustic emission: Quantification of attenuation.” Int. J. Geotech. Eng. 11 (4): 418–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/19386362.2016.1227581.
Smith, A., N. Dixon, P. Meldrum, E. Haslam, and J. Chambers. 2014. “Acoustic emission monitoring of a soil slope: Comparisons with continuous deformation measurements.” Géotech. Lett. 4 (4): 255–261. https://doi.org/10.1680/geolett.14.00053.
Spriggs, M. 2005. “Quantification of acoustic emission from soils for predicting landslide failure.” Ph.D. thesis, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough Univ.
Tanimoto, K., and Y. Tanaka. 1986. “Yielding of soil as determined by acoustic emission.” Soils Found. 26 (3): 69–80. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.26.3_69.
Tognon, A. R., R. K. Rowe, and R. W. Brachman. 1999. “Evaluation of side wall friction for a buried pipe testing facility.” Geotext. Geomembr. 17 (4): 193–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-1144(99)00004-7.
Vazouras, P., P. Dakoulas, and S. A. Karamanos. 2015. “Pipe–soil interaction and pipeline performance under strike–slip fault movements.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 72 (May): 48–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2015.01.014.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 12 • December 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 29, 2018
Accepted: Aug 8, 2019
Published online: Sep 30, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Feb 29, 2020
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.