Studies on Soil Resistance to Pipelines Buried in Sand

Abstract

A series of model tests were carried out to investigate the soil resistance when the buried pipe segment moved in the sand. In the tests, the pipe segments were pulled out in vertical, lateral and axial directions and the pipe segments movement and soil resistance were recorded. Observed data show that the soil resistance depends on the pipe diameters and the depth of cover. According to the uplift test results, the force-displacement relationships with smaller depth of cover are greatly different from those with larger depth of cover. The results of the lateral sliding and axial pull out tests show that the soil resistance initially increases before a peak value is reached and then keeps the same level. For the same covered depth, the lateral soil resistance is more than twice that for uplift. According to the uplift test results, the soil failure modes with smaller depth of cover are greatly different from those with larger covered depth.