Damage to Natural Gas Distribution Steel Pipelines caused by Rigid Bodies resulting from the Excavation of Laying Trenches

Abstract

The present paper focuses on analyzing the occurrence of defects such as dents and local deformations by laboratory simulations of a real case of a defect detected on a natural gas distribution pipeline lain at a depth of approximately 0.6 m. The defect is caused by a river stone which due to the compression forces, damages the pipe to the point of cracking. In the laboratory, the simulation was carried out on a steel pipe insulated with extruded polyethylene which was acted upon by a mandrel made of duralumin. The purpose of the tests is to determine the maximum values at which the pipe material fractures. It was found that the fracture of the pipes when there are rigid bodies in the protective layer of sand is accelerated by the sand existing between them and the pipe and by the change in the properties of the steel the pipes are made of when they are kept in water.