2009 Volume 24 Pages 165-170
Thrust forces are generated at bend pipes due to internal water pressures. Generally concrete blocks are installed at bends to resist thrust forces. However, it has been reported that concrete blocks were one of the weak spots of the pipe system during earthquake. To improve the pipe system during earthquake, we previously proposed to replace concrete blocks with a lightweight thrust restraint technique using geogrids. In this study, the field test on the lightweight thrust restraint for buried bend pipe was carried out in order to examine the behavior of the bend pipe in the field. From the test results, it was found that the steel bend pipe with the proposed method performed satisfactorily under internal water pressures.
