Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Response of Buried Pipeline by Ground Explosion

Abstract

The safety of a pipeline structure, as a very important means of transport, becomes very important under explosion load when explosion is now becoming more common event. To evaluate the effects of a possible ground explosion on buried pipeline, this paper attempted to analyze the dynamic responses of the pipeline in soft soil by using a widely applied explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA through selecting proper material constitutive relation and using nonlinear dynamics theory and arbitrary Lagrangian-Eularian (ALE) algorism. The paper also considered fluid and solid coupling such as soil and pipeline, and pipeline and liquid in it under the explosion load. Two research paths were selected to analyze the dynamic responses of the pipeline. The path 1 was along the transverse direction of the pipeline, and 5 typical points were selected around the cross-section; and the path 2 was along the longitudinal direction and the horizontal distance from the explosion center ranged from 0 to 2 m. The numerical results indicated that using numerical simulation method to study the explosion ground shock effect on buried pipeline was feasible, and the upper part of the pipeline cross-section with directions ranging from 0 to 45° and horizontal distances of 0 to 1m away from the explosive center was the vulnerable areas.