Fracture mechanics analysis of gas pipeline with circumferential crack under the action of transverse landslide

Abstract

The whole process of pipeline–soil interactions between a landslide and a gas pipeline was simulated using the strength reduction method. The main purpose is to investigate how pipeline internal pressure, landslide displacement, crack depth ratio (the ratio of crack depth to wall thickness), crack aspect ratio (the ratio of crack depth to crack half-length), and reinforcement with anti-slide piles influence the J-integral of a circumferential crack in the pipeline under landslide impact. The simulation showed that increases in the landslide displacement, crack depth ratio, and pipeline internal pressure led to an increase in the maximum value of the J-integral at the crack leading edge. An increase in the crack aspect ratio reduced the maximum value of the J-integral. In addition, in the process in which the crack shape changed from semi-elliptical to semicircular, there was a critical crack aspect ratio at which the J-integral at the deepest point of the crack was equal to the J-integral at a point on the surface. The study also found that an increase in the number of anti-slide piles affected the location and distribution of the zone of maximum slippage and effectively reduced the maximum von mises stress and the J-integral at the crack tip. However, when the number and cross-sectional size of anti-slide piles exceed a certain threshold, further increasing or enlarging them barely affects the J-integral.