Model for Analysis of Buried Pipes Installed Using Trenchless Construction Methods

Abstract

Trenchless construction of pipes can influence the behavior of the soil mass surrounding the pipe depending on the method of construction. A new method for the analysis of buried pipes, introduced in this paper, is capable of modeling the behavior of the soil surrounding the pipe in a manner that is distinct from the rest of the soil mass. The method is based on Vlasov's variational approach for modeling the behavior of soil-structure interaction problems. Vlasov's concept of using a shape function to represent the rate of change of the displacements in a soil layer is extended to describe the rate of change of displacements in the soil surrounding the buried pipe. The behavior of a buried flexible pipe under the effect of a concentrated load is studied under a range of conditions and compared to finite element analysis and to Burns and Richard's solution. The results show reasonable agreement with the finite element method. The new model, however, can be used with different shape functions to describe closely field or experimental observations of the rate of decay of displacements in the disturbed soil mass around the buried pipe.