Part 2—Soil-pipe interaction Stress analysis methods for underground pipe lines Analysis of soil-pipe interaction involves investigation of soif forces, longitudinalflateral pipe movement Liang-Chewn Peng, Mechanical Engincer, AAA Technology and Specialties Co., lnc, Houston Because the wajor portion of a pipe line is normally butied, soil-pize intereetion analysis is the xiost iunportant part of pipe live stress analysis. Flsst, however, soil forces that are acting on the pipe must be investigated. These forces differ somewhat from these encountered in foundation engineering problems. For instance. the oftensreferenced lateral pile loading data are hardly ap- plicable to a pipe Tine problem since a pile is driven into the soil vertically rather than busied horizontally and lateral pile movement is mmch smaller than pipe ine movement, Fig: 5(a) shows a pipe line buried im a dite. Because of the soil backfill and the pipe’s own weight, the pipe receives a soil pressure acting at Hs surface as shown in Fig. 8b}. This preseure creates a bending stress on the pipe wall and at the same time produces a soil friction iorce against any asta] pipe movement. Except in highway of railroad crossiags, the beading stress created by sneven soil pressure is negiigible. If no casing i used at road crossings, bending stress due to soil pressure can be significant and should be evaluated using methods described by Spangler.’ The code requires that this bending stress be combined with pressure hoop stress, and the combined stress should be limited t9 no more than the specified iiaimum yield strength (SMYS). Axial friction force, Friction force is the first soil force that affects pipe movement, ‘This section covers friction force that is created against the axial pipe movement. Theoretically, friction force is equal to the product of the Irietion coefficient and the total normal force acting Mav Y97R 9 PIPE HIN INnHISTAY Since actual distribution of normal 5(b}, $s hard to determine for the parpose of friction force calculation, a simplified model as shown in Fig. 5(c) can be used. ‘The normal foree acting on the pipe surface can be divided inte top force, W, and bottorn force, H+ Wp, where W, is the woight of the pipe and its content. For a pipe buried in a ditch, the top soil force can be cal- culated by Marston's formula,’ but in cases where the soll cover depth ranges from ont to three times the pipe diameter, the force can be taken as the weight of the soil surcharge over the pipe, Hence, axial friction force can be written as: T= Wh Wt Wy) /12 or $= p2pDH We} 12 (2) = Axial frietion force, Ibs. in. 17 Coefficient of friction berween pipe and « Density of dackill soil, Ibs./it2 in whieh, Depth of soil cover to tap of pipe, ft. ‘Weight of pipa and content, Tbs./#t. The soil density and friction coefficient are obtained from soil tests performed along the pipe line route, In cases when test data are not available, the following we Wp +8) Trenohed plpe Sal pressure 6, Idasllzed modal Fig. 5—Sol! pressure distribution,3. Upward. b. Downward Fig. 6--Latoral soit forces. friction coefficient can be used:? Sit 65 Sand 04 Gravel 05. ‘The above coefficients are the tower bond values equiva. wat to the sliding friction. The static coefficient of irio- tion ears be as much as 70 percent higher.* For give lines busied below the water tuble, buoyant force should be subtracted from soil and pipe weight before entering Equation 9 for calculation. Laterat soil force. Fig, § shows three diflerent lateral seii forces normally encountered in pipe fine analysis. Each lateral force can be idealized, as in Fig. 6(d), into two stages: Flastic stage, where resistance force is pro- portional to pipe displucerent, and plastic stage, where vesistance remains constant regardless of displacement, Though clastic constant can be evakiated directly by test or published methods. they are generally very sensi tive to dhe data gathered, An alternate method ‘s to caloulate from the more reliable ultimate zesistance, Several authors have ceported that displacement required va reach wbicnaie resistance is about 1.5 to 2 percent of the pipe bottom depth. From this important finding, elastic constant can be calewlated from ultimate resistince by inking 1.5 percent total depth as yield displacement. Using 1.5 per- ceat instead of 2 percent gives a more realistic secant siodulas which vill underestimate the modulus for initial Uisplacement but somewoat overestimate the modulus at higher displacement. For a pipe line, underestimation of uty rectsinad 1 A a Sa ee é Raa oF etn | ~Stroes Dlaplacemant. 1. Longitudinal strass dlsirloution Fig. 7—Longitudinat movement, Wealizes SS Actual Displacement —— , Sidaward 4. Force displacement initial modulus is greatly compensated by the fact that less than perfect buckiill compaction docs provide ‘nitial softness, When a pipe moves horizontally as in Fig. 6(c}, it creates a passive soil prosmre at the front surface, and at the same time receives an active soil force at the back Because of the arch action, x void will be created behind the pipe as soon ap it moves a sinall distance and the active soil force can therefore be disregarded.*® ‘The only lateral force is the passive sol] force which can be written as: Te E+ DY tant (45-y (303 Where 77 is the ultimate soil resistance, fhs./ét, and the other symbols are as previously defined. Strictly spe Equation 10 is valid only when the soil cover, H, is less than the pipe diameter, D. it will overestimate the re- sistance for deeper soil covers, However, for a three- diameter deep cover with dense granular soil, the over- estimation is enly about 10 percent.” This is within the variation of other parameters involved in soil mechanics. Taking 1.5 peroent of the total depth as the yield dis- placement, the elastic constant can he written a oT 0015 (H+ DY x 18 0.9815 » (H+ D) tan? (45.4 K a Where the elastic constant, K, in pounds per inch of pipe per inch displacernent, is the product of modulus of pas- sive resistance and pipe diameer. It should he noted [hat instead of determining soil modulus 6, the constant eD is determnized. This is similar to the eR constant used in the famous Towa flexible pipe dellection formula Longitudinal pipe movement. T! tity problem originates (rom the expansion of the pipe, Therefore, the first step of flexibility analysis is to determine longitudinal movement. Fig. 7 shows & pipe fine leaving a pump station. Point A isa sevaper launehing barrel and BCD represents a very Jong line. When the line is heated up, the end of pipe B will start to move. The movement produces fric- tion force, f, while at the same time an end resistance, Q,develops becawe of soil pasive force and pipe stiffness. The roving portion of the pipe will extend gradually downstream to a point C where the movement stops, As the inoving portion extends, friction force also in- cavases, and when the moving boundary reaches point C, friction force plus end force developed is enough to sup- press the expunson completely. Point G is sommedines called virtual anchor point and the moving feng, £, the active Tengt Because of the unequal amount of friction iotce re- ceived, longitudinal stress along the active length varies from point to point, Distribution of longitudinal stress is shown in Fig. 7{b). At the seraper barrel end, the stress is tensile and equal to the pressure stress, ‘The tensile stress is reduced gradually due to end fares and friction force, then eventually becomes compressive if the line is hhot enough. Finally, at point C, the compressive stress reaches maxirmim and stays the same for the entire fully restrained portion. ‘The active Fength of the linc can be determined by equating friction forse plus end force with the required anchor force obtained from Equation 6, that is: PLE QaE ae (a2) where L= Active length, in. F'= Anchor force or expansion force, Ibs. Q= Bnd resistance force, Ibs. f= Soil friction Fores, Ibs fin Aftcr the active length is determined, the end movement, 9, can be calculated by multiplying dhe average expan- sion rate with the length, ‘The expansion rate at © is zero, and the rate at end B is equivalent to the pull of the poteztial expansion force {or anchor force) minus end force, hence: [ oo» deuay]e substiaucing nem 12 we have: we > gaey Par a where y is the end defiection in inches. ‘The end deflection is proportional to the square of the eet expautsion force. The underground piping is therefore car simula- Lateral pipe movement. The fatoral pipe inoveinent is caused by longitudinal movement of a pipe connected in the perpendicular direction, Wig. fa) shows a Jong main line pipe making a 90- degree tursi to enter a pump station, Expansion of the ong pipe AB hat caused the station pipe BE to move in tine lateral divection, The fateral movement at comer B “Long pig * Plastic soll forme 2 4 Plaste-elaale sol foreas « Elastic soil foree . Guided cantilever ‘lastle modes Fig, S—Latera! snavernent, is y inch and decreases gradually toward point C where displacement is virtually zero. Because of the large movement, the soil in region 1-2 is in plastic stage offering constant pastive forer. The soil in region 203 is still iu the static. range that offers a sisting force proportional to local displacement. ‘The ex- tent of region 1-2 depends on the magnitude of end movement, and js nonexistent for some low semperature lines, “The analysis involving elastic-plastic soil force generally requires step-wise linear compwier simulations. Th pip- Ing, however, can be conservatively treated as a guided cantilever elastic system which ean be easily analyzed. ‘As shown in Pig, 8(b), the long pipe AB is considered to be guided, allowing no rotation at the comer B. The soil force is considered to be perfect elastic, offering re- sistance proportional to the Toeal displacenwent, This ap proach (ends to underestimate the deflection because of the large soil torce and stiff boundary asmmed ‘On the contrary, the method will tend to overestinnate the moment because of the suff nonrotational eviner B assumed. Since stress is determined by the moment, it is apparent that the aproach is conservative, To start the analysis, the system is cut into two free bodies 2s shown in the figure, The long pipe AB is exactly the same as shown in Pig. 7(a) except the enc monet, Mf, Since the end moment does not affect the longitudinal movernent, we till can say: oper WO" ‘Here we have one equation but two unknowns, y and Q. Therefore, another equaiion is needed froin leg BC be- fore the peoblema can be solved. ‘The situation fo leg BC is a beam on elastic foundation protlem, The case ik not quite the same as an ordinary pile problem where elastic modulus changes with depth and the end, in moat cases, is {ree so zotate. The pileFormula, especially those tbat do not produce any end anoment, camuot be used. Leg BC actually represents one-half of an infinite beam fon elastic foundation that is loaded with « concentrated force, From Titerature citation 1, we cam wre: (4) (25) =End displacement, in. Ibs. constant, Ibs, in* y of pipe, psi 1=Moment of inertia of pipe, int Af = End bending moment, io.lbs, TET Substituting Equation 18 in Equation 14 and rearrang- ing the form, we have: Q=C-VO-F (16 where omen ltt Alter the end force is dotermined, the end displacement and moment can be calculated from Equations 14 and 15, respectively. Sample calculations. Assume the same 20-inch diameter pipe, described in Part 1, is buried with 4 feet of soil cover and the soil is silty sand with a density af 125 bs. /ft? and un interual friction angle of 30 degrees. The displacement and steess of the pipe shown ia Fig. 7 sad Fig. 8 can then be caleulaied as follows: 1, Soil friction force. As discussed earlier, a sliding friction factor of O4 ca be used for the silty sand against the pipe. Asswaing the specific weight of the crude is 0.85, the friction force fra Equation 9 is: fe x (2x 15x TE x 4+ 185.2) /12= 61.74 tbs./in, 2 Soll end force Q acting on the vertical entry leg of Fig. 7 can be calculated by adding side shears to Equa~ tion 10.* Phat is, ~ ere prenaarg oe Tian ( cea Bor 8 ) tant (60) x7 + (38 (et 125. 05 tan {30} “Fan (Oy = 15,296 lis in which K,= 05 is the coefficient of later soil pressure, 3. Active length is calculated by Equation 12 as: aL Q — 105200 = 11296. 7 B74 Expansion force F = 706280 is caleulated ia Part 1. 4, Longitudinal movement at the scraper barrel of Fig. 7 can'be found from Equation 13: i —_ 2X BAX 27.9 X 108 x BLE (706286 ~ 11296)* = 607 in. which i only slightly smaller than the free end (Q expansion of 6.27 inches. In reality the movement will be consideraby smalier due to the lateral soil force acting on the station pipe as will be shown in the following. ‘The slacks in the main line will also absorb part of the mmovernent. 5. Lateral soil foree and elastic constant are calculated by Equations 10 and 1, respectively. = 11,256 in, = 938 it 1 u px 1 (+ 0.2815 x 5(5+ Blass +15) = 4914 Bhs fin? + ay tan®(45 + 15)=6020 Ibs./ft. K 6. Then for the Fis pipe we have: a=. [ie dH ER BIS IP KET = 0.0079 int cnr + SABE so6280+ 0.0079 x 98.1 x 27.9 x 10° +y 1346499" — 708260" = 200101 Tbs. QB _ 20010! x 0.0079 K 4914 ‘This displaceuent greatly exceeds the yield displucement of 0.015 (+ Dy = 0.085 ft. 02 in., therefore the calculation is only a rough estimation. A’ more accurate analysis will require the consideration of the plastic soil force. The end moment is calcuated by Equation (3: =k May ‘The bending stress without considering stress intensifi- cation is: End displacemens, » 200101 = 12664620 in-tbs. gt, 166620 ZT which is about three times the allowable of $7,440 psi. = 114,095 psiAlthough a step-wise eoroputer simulation snight reduce ‘the stress somewhat, some remedies are still required. Part 2 conclusion. From the above discussion, it can be concluded thar ‘For a buried pipe line, the pipe will expand toward the end or a bend, but the central portion of the tine will be fully restrained by the soil friction force. Toial movement at the free end is inversely proportional to soil friction force but is dicectly proportional to the square of the temperature dilference between operating and installation conditions. © Because of the lateral soil fore, movement at a bend is about one-half of movement at the free end. * For Winch standard pipe at 130° F temperature difference, stress developed at the bend connecting to a tong rim is about three times the allowable stress, "Therefore proper cart should be taken to reduce the sicess, The most often used methods ave: fa} Install an enchor at about 20-diameter length away from the bend to reduce the movement {b) Install soft roaterial behind the pipe of the lateral eg. (c) Locally use thicker wail pipe near the bend area, (d) Adopt special backfilling prosediare. © A buried pipe bend without any particular atteution will take only about 60°F twraperature raise if it fs con- nected to a long nun of pipe. ‘The techniques developed in this article are generally suficient to handle the routine analyses. However, there are configurations that would require computerized step whe linear simulation In summary, the most difficult part of the soil pipe interaction ansiysis is to determine the soil characteris- ties. Once the soil data are available, the analysis can be periormed routinely. Unfortunstely, we still lack reliable soil cuxtelation formulas that cam be used confidemily by the analysts. Although the two soil formulas prevented in this article are simplified, they do give reasonable numbers. The most important thing they provide is clear physical plctares af the moving processes, By relating one’s thinking to a physical picture, it is less likely that an extreme value will be used, LirenaTuae crrep 1 Manche ae epotir See Po” te “ABE'S Brine Shc, BEE Hara eaten Ma ceruseiacs Rats Board, Uosemter a = ® * ee eh atc ire ~fole gh eR eget poh fel ea eae Senet gt a Goat Rtgs Reo" on sates I gaa "ong pe eng eto tc i en, Go ei RS A ae “Sp, Soak ey Ma los Fetigl Apaee Sb fo San” Eid and Baruch = ohn Yas Pobre Me Sc, SAR ts Reser Sagi Fen gh seh otoakenty Sy Seng of Mater Pat AL, #4 Sed a, 1056, eortiat Soil Mechel, . Movemeass of Under Fig@ Example Can be sina aunel analy earily using. SemFleX label a Demo Version Downe a 6" theo PPE UNDERGROURD PIPELINE option, Cade= ¢, PELONG, TW, FRteT enh, THEES40, TEMPHS0 Sprpes, ee se osG2 0.8 MATLECS S, Lowspipe (260), PIPEL. YX=60, RSEC = (0, ve Sry, NLB (i200, 0.8) BR iz 2 = Go, RSEC™ is, ere, 9 09), BEX (oo, 0.4) 20,220, ANCH Exp TRY Above DATA tT Ger A FEECING_