Ultimate Soil Bearing Capacity of Lateral Pipeline-sand Interaction

In order to make up for the inadequacy of ascertaining the lateral bearing capacity coefficient of pipeline-soil interaction in the domestic and international standard, some numerical models were built to simulate the pipeline-sand interaction by using ABAQUS software package. First, these numerical models were verified with the Trautmann lateral pipe-sand interaction test results. Then, the effects of pipe diameter and embedded depth on the bearing capacity coefficient were analyzed, and some conclusions were gained as follows: the lateral bearing capacity coefficient decreases with the increase of diameter when the depth diameter ratio is constant; the relationship between the lateral bearing capacity coefficient and the ratio of depth to diameter submit to exponential curve, which was explained from the point of view of soil arch effect. Finally, a formula for calculating the bearing capacity coefficient for sand foundation was proposed, considering the effect of internal friction angle, the ratio of buried depth to diameter and pipe diameter.