Effect Of EPS Protection On The Buried Pipe Under Stratum Settlement

Abstract

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam is a light and deformable geosynthetic that can reduce the pressure on the pipe by surrounding soil. The protective effect of geofoam bocks protection on the buried pipe under stratum settlement was investigated. The effect of settlement displacement, diameter-thickness ratio, internal pressure, surrounding soil, and EPS thickness on the axial strain and ovalisation of pipe were analyzed. The results show that the axial strain and ovalisation of pipe protected with EPS are smaller than that in soil. With the increase of the pipe diameter-thickness ratio, the axial strain and ovalisation of pipe with or without protection increase. With the increase of internal pressure, the buckling mode of pipe buried in soil changes from collapse to wrinkle gradually, but the ovalisation changes of pipe protected with EPS is small. When the surrounding soil is rock, buckling occurred in the without protection is more obvious. The safety of the pipeline is better with thicker EPS.

Keywords

• geofoam
• buried pipe
• settlement area
• numerical method
• buckling