Deformation and Strength of an Underground Pipe : 1st Report, Symmetrical Loading

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of an underground pipe subjected to the soil pressure due to a vertical concentrated force acting on the surface of the ground, is studied by an exact method. The deformations and stresses in an underground pipe are discussed using a differential equation of a thin cylindrical shell introduced by one of the authors. Assuming that the ground is a semi-infinite elastic solid, the stresses in soil mass are given by the solutions of Boussinesq or the modified equations by Frohlich. In addition, the coefficient of subgrade reaction is used in order to take into consideration that the external pressure on the buried pipe depends on the deformations of the thin tube. Comparing the theoretical results with the experimental ones, the experimental data are in better agreement with the results obtained by using Frohlich equations rather than using Boussinesq ones.