<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The mechanical performance of underground flexible structures such as buried pipes or culverts made of plastics depend not only on the properties of the structure, but also on the material surrounding it. Flexible drains can deflect by 30% with the joints staying tight, or even invert. Large deformations of the structure are difficult to model in the framework of Finite Element Method, but straightforward in Discrete Element Methods. Moreover, Discrete Element approach is able to provide information about the grain-grain and grain-structure interactions at the microscale. This paper presents numerical and experimental investigations of flexible buried pipe behaviour with focus placed on load transfer above the buried structure. Numerical modeling was able to reproduce the experimental results. Load repartition was observed, being affected by a number of factors such as particle shape, pipe friction and pipe stiffness.</p></abstract>

The mechanical performance of underground flexible structures such as buried pipes or culverts made of plastics depend not only on the properties of the structure, but also on the material surrounding it. Flexible drains can deflect by 30% with the joints staying tight, or even invert. Large deformations of the structure are difficult to model in the framework of Finite Element Method, but straightforward in Discrete Element Methods. Moreover, Discrete Element approach is able to provide information about the grain-grain and grain-structure interactions at the microscale. This paper presents numerical and experimental investigations of flexible buried pipe behaviour with focus placed on load transfer above the buried structure. Numerical modeling was able to reproduce the experimental results. Load repartition was observed, being affected by a number of factors such as particle shape, pipe friction and pipe stiffness.

Particle Shape Effect on Macroscopic Behaviour of Underground Structures: Numerical and Experimental Study

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland

Laboratoire 3SR, Universite de Grenoble/CNRS, Grenoble, France

Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The mechanical performance of underground flexible structures such as buried pipes or culverts made of plastics depend not only on the properties of the...

Particle Shape Effect on Macroscopic Behaviour of Underground Structures: Numerical and Experimental Study

Published Online: Feb 28, 2015

Page range: 67 - 74

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sgem-2014-0028

Keywords
discrete element method, particle shape, underground pipe, digital image correlation

© 2014 Krzysztof Szarf et. al.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Particle Shape Effect on Macroscopic Behaviour of Underground Structures: Numerical and Experimental Study

Published Online: Feb 28, 2015

Page range: 67 - 74

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sgem-2014-0028

Keywordsdiscrete element method, particle shape, underground pipe, digital image correlation

© 2014 Krzysztof Szarf et. al.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
discrete element method, particle shape, underground pipe, digital image correlation