Response of Buried Cylinders to Surface Loads

Abstract

Loads applied at the ground surface may have a significant effect on culverts and buried pipelines. A semi‐analytic procedure is developed to estimate the response of buried tubes to surface loads. The procedure can be used to predict distributions of hoop force and bending moment in the buried structure, as well as radial and circumferential deflection. The solution makes use of one geometrical approximation to simplify the analysis. The validity of the approximation is established through comparisons with elastic finite element solutions. Techniques for analyzing tubes buried in embankments and trenches are considered.