MODELING OF GEOSYNTHETIC REINFORCED BURIED FLEXIBLE PIPES

VETTORELO PAULA VANESA; MORENO FRANCIS; CLARIÁ JUAN JOSÉ

Miami, Florida

Conferencia; GeoAmericas 2016; 2016

International Geosynthetics Society

Buried pipes perform a key role in urban centers, including multiple functions, from fluid transport to electric lines conduction. Usually, flexible pipes design is developed by means of approximate formulations derived from the elasticity theory (v.g. Spangler Iowa). Although there are many studies about the interaction between a buried pipe and the surrounding soil, several failures are observed in these systems. In order to reduce the pipe deflections and stresses, the system reinforcement with a geosynthetic can be a good improvement alternative. The present paper shows the results of a parametric study about the interaction between a flexible buried pipe (e.g. glass fiber reinforced polyester pipe -GRP) with the surrounding soil and a geosynthetic acting as a reinforcement element. For the analysis of the soil-pipe-geosynthetic interaction and behavior, a bidimensional finite element model was built using PLAXIS software. By means of the numerical model, the contribution of the geosynthetic as a function of the soil and pipe stiffness was determined.The influence of the geosynthetic buried depth on the pipe deflection is also analyzed. The maximum geosynthetic contribution is observed for the case of pipe trenches excavated on rigid natural soils backfilled with softly compactedmaterials, situation that is generally applied in order to prevent pipe damage.