Numerical Evaluation of the Polyethylene Pipe and Sandy Soil Interaction Subjected to Strike-Slip Faulting

Pipe-Soil interaction is one of the fundamental challenges to analyzing and designing of buried pipelines. Even though the accuracy of ASCE relations for calculating pipe-soil interaction is proper in certain cases, several researches have demonstrated the inaccuracy of these relations for cases such as fault movement. This research evaluates the interaction between sandy soil and polyethylene pipe subjected to strike-slip faulting on the basis of a non-linear finite element numerical model. Once the results of the numerical model were verified using the previously conducted experiments, several numerical analyses were carried out for pipes with different diameters, thicknesses and burial depths. The results suggest that the pipe thickness and the fault-pipe angle considerably affect pipe-soil interaction, which is not allowed for in ASCE relations. Finally, according to the obtained results, the ASCE relation for the transverse-horizontal interaction between sandy soil and polyethylene pipe subjected to strike-slip faulting was modified.