Probabilistic Assessment of Lateral Pipeline–Backfill–Trench Interaction
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12, Issue 3
Abstract
Trenching and backfilling of pipelines is a common practice for physical protection. In seismic regions, buried pipelines may be at risk of fault displacement that causes massive lateral pipe movements and jeopardizes pipeline mechanical integrity. The lower stiffness of the remolded backfilling material relative to the native ground has a significant impact on lateral soil resistance against large pipeline displacements that are rarely considered in current design practice. Finding a safe, reliable, and cost-effective trench configuration is a key aspect of design practice that is affected by pipeline–backfill–trench interaction. In this analysis, a probabilistic approach was used to investigate trenching/backfilling effects on the response of buried pipelines to large lateral displacements. A three-dimensional beam-spring model subject to a strike-slip fault was developed and the effect of trenching/backfilling was incorporated using nonlinear springs. Two limit state criteria were set to identify the safe and failure regions. A code was developed using Python programming software to perform iterative analysis by variation of pipe specifications, native and backfill soil properties, trench width, trench depth, and lateral displacements. The first-order reliability method (FORM) was used to estimate the exceedance probability of failure using the identified limit states, and the results were validated against published studies in the literature. The study showed that the trenching/backfilling of pipeline results in lower lateral soil resistance against displaced pipe. In addition, it was observed that the advantage of load reduction could be used to mitigate trench dimensions and reduce construction costs without sacrificing safety and integrity requirements.
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 proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this research by Wood PLC by establishing the Wood Group Chair in the Arctic and harsh environment engineering at Memorial University, the NL Tourism, Culture, Industry, and Innovation (TCII) via the Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) collaborative funding program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) via the CRD funding program, and the Memorial University of Newfoundland through the school of graduate studies (SGS) baseline fund.
References
ALA (American Lifelines Alliance). 2005. Guidelines for the design of buried steel pipe. Reston, VA: ASCE.
API (American Petroleum Institute). 2018. API 5L specification for line pipe, 1–40. Washington, DC: API.
Becker, D. E. 1996. “Eighteenth Canadian geotechnical colloquium: Limit states design for foundations. Part II: Development for the national building code of Canada.” Can. Geotech. J. 33 (6): 984–1007. https://doi.org/10.1139/t96-125.
BSI (British Standard). 1993. Code of practice for pipelines. Part 3. Pipeline Subsea: Design, construction and installation. London: BSI.
C-CORE. 2003. Extended model for pipe soil interaction. St. John’s, Canada: C-CORE.
C-CORE. 2004. Extended model for pipe soil interaction. St. John’s, Canada: C-CORE.
C-CORE. 2005. Extended model for pipe soil interaction. St. John’s, Canada: C-CORE.
Cheng, Y., and S. Akkar. 2017. “Measuring bias in structural response caused by ground motion scaling.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 8 (Dec): 605–620. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.
Ching, J., and K. K. Phoon. 2012. “Modeling parameters of structured clays as a multivariate normal distribution.” Can. Geotech. J. 49 (5): 522–545. https://doi.org/10.1139/t2012-015.
CSA (Canadian Standards Association). 2019. Oil and gas pipeline systems. Rexdale, ON: CSA.
Das, B. M., and G. R. Seeley. 1975. “Pullout resistance of vertical anchors.” Geotech. Eng. Div. Soc. Civ. Eng. 101 (1): 87–91. https://doi.org/10.1061/AJGEB6.0000142.
DNV (Det Norske Veritas). 2017. Rules for pipe-soil interaction for submarine pipelines. DNVGL-RP-F114. Viken, Norway: DNV.
DNV (Det Norske Veritas). 2019. Submarine pipeline systems. DNVGL-ST-F101. Viken, Norway: DNV.
Hansen, J. B. 1948. The stabilizing effect of piles in clay, 14–15. Copenhagen, Denmark: Geoteknisk Institut.
Hansen, J. B., and N. H. Christensen. 1961. The ultimate resistance of rigid piles against transversal forces. Copenhagen, Denmark: Geoteknisk Institut.
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.
Kenny, S., J. Bruce, T. King, R. McKenna, A. Nobahar, and R. Phillips. 2004. “Probabilistic design methodology to mitigate ice gouge hazards for offshore pipelines.” In Proc., Int. Pipeline Conf. New York: ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/IPC2004-0527.
Kianian, M., M. Esmaeilzadeh, and H. Shiri. 2018. “Lateral response of trenched pipelines to large deformations in clay.” In Proc., Annual Offshore Technology Conf., 3487–3504. Houston: Offshore Technology Conference. https://doi.org/10.4043/28842-MS.
Kianian, M., and H. Shiri. 2019. “The influence of pipeline–trenchbed interaction intensity on lateral soil resistance and failure mechanisms.” Int. J. Geotech. Eng. 14 (7): 752–765. https://doi.org/10.1080/19386362.2019.1709948.
Kianian, M., and H. Shiri. 2020. “The effect of backfilling stiffness on lateral response of the shallowly trenched-backfilled pipelines in clay.” Mar. Georesour. Geotechnol. 2020 (Mar): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/1064119X.2020.1736699.
Kostyukov, V. D. 1963. “Distribution of the density of sand in the sliding wedge in front of anchor plates.” Soil Mech. Found. Eng. 4 (1): 12–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01706582.
Liu, R., S. Guo, and S. Yan. 2015. “Study on the lateral soil resistance acting on the buried pipeline.” J. Coastal Res. 73 (10073): 391–398. https://doi.org/10.2112/SI73-069.1.
Mahsuli, M., and T. Haukaas. 2013. “Computer program for multimodel reliability and optimization analysis.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng. 27 (1): 87–98. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000204.
Merifield, R. S., S. W. Sloan, and H. S. Yu. 2001. “Stability of plate anchors in undrained clay.” Géotechnique 51 (2): 141–153. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2001.51.2.141.
Mohr, B., R. Gordon, and R. Smith. 2004. “Strain based design guidelines for pipelines.” In Proc., Pipeline Technology Conf., 291–311. Golden, CO: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.
Neely, W. J., J. G. Stewart, and J. Graham. 1973. “Failure loads of vertical anchor plates in sand.” Soil Mech. Found. Div. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng. 99 (9): 669–685. https://doi.org/10.1061/JSFEAQ.0001925.
Nobahar, A., S. Kenny, T. King, R. McKenna, and R. Phillips. 2007. “Analysis and design of buried pipelines for ice gouging hazard: A probabilistic approach.” J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 129 (3): 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2426989.
Oliveira, J. R. M. S., M. S. S. Almeida, M. C. F. Almeida, and R. G. Borges. 2010. “Physical modeling of lateral clay–pipe interaction.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 136 (7): 950–956. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000311.
Ovesen, N. K. 1964. Anchor slabs, calculation methods and model tests. Copenhagen, Denmark: Danish Geotechnical Society.
Ovesen, N. K., and H. Stroman. 1972. “Design methods for vertical anchor plates in sand.” In Proc., Specialty Conf. on Performance of Earth at Earth Supported Structures, 1481–1500. New York: ASCE.
Paulin, M. 1998. “An investigation into pipelines subjected to lateral soil loading.” Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial Univ. of Newfoundland.
Phillips, R., A. Nobahar, and J. Zhou. 2004. “Trench effects on pipe-soil interaction.” In Proc., Int. Pipeline Conf. New York: ASME.
PRCI (Pipeline Research Council International). 2009. Guidelines for constructing natural gas and liquid hydrocarbon pipelines through areas prone to landslide and subsidence hazards. Chantilly, VA: PRCI.
Rowe, R. K., and E. H. Davis. 1982. “The behavior of anchor plates in clay.” Géotechnique 32 (1): 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1982.32.1.25.
Shiri, H., and M. Kianian. 2020. “Constructional and operational considerations in assessing the lateral response of buried subsea pipelines.” In Proc., 4th Int. Symp. on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Smith, J. E. 1962. Deadman anchorages is sand. Port Hueneme, CA: US Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory.
Takada, S., N. Hassani, and K. Fukuda. 2001. “A new proposal for simplified design of buried steel pipes crossing active faults.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 30 (8): 1243–1257. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.62.
Trifonov, O. V., and V. P. Cherniy. 2010. “A semi-analytical approach to a nonlinear stress-strain analysis of buried steel pipelines crossing active faults.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 30 (11): 1298–1308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2010.06.002.
Tschebotarioff, G. P. 1973. Foundations, retaining and earth structures. New York: McGraw-Hill Book.
Vitali, L., R. Bruschi, K. J. Mork, E. Levold, and R. Verley. 1999. “Hotpipe project: Capacity of pipes subject to internal pressure, axial force and bending moment.” In Proc., 9th Int. Offshore and Polar Engineering Conf., 22–33. Golden, CO: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.
Walker, A. C., and K. A. J. Williams. 1995. “Strain based design of pipelines.” In Proc., 14th OMAE, 345–350. NewYork: ASME.
Wantland, G. M., M. W. O’Neill, L. C. Reese, and E. H. Kalajian. 1979. “Lateral stability of pipelines in clay.” In Proc., Annual Offshore Technology Conf., 1025–1034. Dallas: Offshore Technology Conference.
Wells, D. L., and K. J. Coppersmith. 1994. “New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area, and surface displacement.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 84 (4): 974–1002.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12 • Issue 3 • August 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 13, 2020
Accepted: Feb 4, 2021
Published online: Jun 9, 2021
Published in print: Aug 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Nov 9, 2021
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.