Performance of steel-reinforced high-density polyethylene pipes in soil during installation: a numerical study

Abstract

Steel-reinforced high-density polyethylene (SRHDPE) pipe combines the advantages of the HDPE and steel pipes with good corrosion resistance and relative high load carrying capacity. However, no widely accepted method is available for design of SRHDPE pipes. The objective of this study is to evaluate effects of several key influence factors on performance of SRHDPE pipes in soil during the installation to facilitate future development of a design method for the SRHDPE pipes. To achieve this objective, a numerical study was conducted to investigate the effects of soil cover thickness, trench width, magnitude of compaction pressure, and friction angle of backfill on the performance of SRHDPE pipes during their installation. Numerical results indicate: (1) pipe peaking deflections increased with an increase in the soil cover thickness, the trench width, and the magnitude of the compaction pressure; (2) the friction angle of the backfill material had an insignificant effect on the pipe deflection; (3) the lateral earth pressure coefficient at the springline of the pipe was approximately 0.65 during the installation; (4) the vertical arching factors at the top of pipes in all cases were greater than 1.0, which means a negative soil arching effect occurring in the soil cover during the pipe installation; and (5) the location and magnitude of the maximum bending moment changed with the elevation of the backfill during the installation.