Abstract
The present paper addresses the mechanical behaviors and failure mechanisms of buried polyethylene (PE) pipes crossing active strike slip tectonic faults based on numerical simulation of the nonlinear response of the soil-pipeline system. The developed finite element (FE) model is first verified through comparing the simulation results with those from large-scale tests and good agreement between simulation and experimental measurements is obtained. The FE model is then applied to investigate the effects of fault crossing angle, pipe and soil properties on the mechanical behavior of PE pipe. The results indicate that the PE pipe crossing negative fault angles is primarily subjected to compression and bending, thus exhibits the phenomenon of buckling. With the increase of crossing angle, there is an increase of the axial strain and the maximum Mises stress in the buckled cross section, and a decrease of the distance between the buckling position and the fault plane. While for positive crossing angles, the PE pipe is mainly subjected to tension and relatively small bending. Increasing the crossing angle causes an increase in bending strain and a decrease in the axial strain. In addition, when the fault moving speed is slower, the axial strain and bending strain are larger, whereas the maximum Mises stress in the buckled cross section and the distance between the buckled position and the fault plane are reduced. Furthermore, the most severe deformation of the pipe is observed when it is buried in the sandy soil, followed by cohesive soil and loess soil.
Highlights
Use of polyethylene (PE) for natural gas transportation has increased rapidly due to its good physical and mechanical properties and outstanding corrosion resistance
Vazouras et al investigated the mechanical behavior of buried steel pipelines crossing strike-slip faults using finite element (FE) simulation, with focus on the effects of soil property, diameter-to-thickness ratio D/t, crossing angle, bend angle and elbow distance [3–6]
The mechanical response of buried high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe to strike-slip fault displacement was investigated by Robert et al through using solid elements with M-C model and shell element to describe deformation behavior of soil and pipe, respectively
Summary
Use of polyethylene (PE) for natural gas transportation has increased rapidly due to its good physical and mechanical properties and outstanding corrosion resistance. Vazouras et al investigated the mechanical behavior of buried steel pipelines crossing strike-slip faults using FE simulation, with focus on the effects of soil property, diameter-to-thickness ratio D/t, crossing angle, bend angle and elbow distance [3–6]. Xie et al performed a systematic study on the response of buried PE pipe to strike-slip faulting using shell elements and spring elements to model the behavior of pipe and soil. The mechanical response of buried high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe to strike-slip fault displacement was investigated by Robert et al through using solid elements with M-C model and shell element to describe deformation behavior of soil and pipe, respectively. Much effort has been made to elucidate deformation behavior and damage/failure mechanisms of buried pipeline subjected to fault movement, pipe is usually modelled using shell element for computational efficiency. The Mohr–Coulomb (M-C) model is used in this paper to quantify the deformation behavior of soil, which is expressed as
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