Safety Investigation of Buried Polyethylene Pipe Subject to Seismic Landslide

Abstract

As polyethylene (PE) pipes are widely used in the gas transportation system nowadays, increasing attention is attached to the safety of buried PE pipe under seismic load. In this paper, the related failure criterion is proposed and mechanical behavior of PE pipe subject to seismic landslide is investigated. Based on extensive tensile tests, an appropriate constitutive model of PE is selected and the parameters are estimated to simulate mechanical behavior of PE pipes using finite element method. The pipe is assumed to be loaded with a quartic polynomial bending deflection displacement along the axial direction and the soil acts linear elastic. From the numerical simulation results, it is concluded that cross-section deformation is the governing failure mode of buried PE pipe subject to seismic landslide and the critical pipe deflection is about 0.048. Failure criterion curves of seismic landslide are put forward with the combination of failure criterion and engineering practice. The proposed failure criterion curves serve as a foundation available not only for the safety design and assessment also for engineering acceptance criterion of the failure of PE pipe due to seismic landslide.