2015 Volume 71 Issue 2 Pages I_475-I_484
It has been pointed out that increased earth pressure in the ground which acts on pipes buried under frozen ground, and increased stress exerted by vehicle load that in the ground during removal and clearance of snow may have caused serious breakages of gas conduits in cold region in the past. Attempts have been made to bury pipes at a shallower depth in order to reduce replacement costs of aged water pipes in cold region. There are, however, very few studies of detailed examinations of stress in the ground changes owing to the freezing of surrounding ground.
This study, therefore, measured detailed temperature distribution around a water pipe buried under the pavement and vertical earth pressure in the ground, as well as seasonal changes of stress exerted by vehicle load. Results revealed that these measured values change significantly as a result of the ground's freeze-thaw process. In addition, this study found that stress analysis using the multi-layers elastic theory can represent to some extent the seasonal changes of stress exerted by vehicle load.
