Abstract
The distribution of earth pressure acting on buried rigid pipes measured for centrifuged models of 42 cases was compared with FEM elastic analyses, which yielded results that conformed to the test results in most cases, showing that the earth pressure acting on buried rigid pipes is affected predominantly by the lateral and bottom boundary conditions in the ground and by the interface boundary condition between pipe and soil. This conclusion made clear the interrelationship among the following several studies of the authors on this problem conducted in this decade: a field test, centrifuge model tests, and an analysis based on elastic theory. The difference in earth pressure among three types of pipe installation in actual construction, ditch type with sheet-piling, ditch type without sheet-piling and embankment type, was concluded to be due to the difference in the lateral boundary condition in the ground.
