Protection of buried pipes against accidental damage using geosynthetics

摘要

ABSTRACT: Buried pipes can be damaged by accidents, or by the action of vandalism. Dependingnon the material transported by the pipe and its pressure, serious consequences can result from suchndamage, which commonly involve great material losses and, unfortunately, losses of lives. Thisnpaper presents a model study on the influence of the presence of geosynthetic reinforcement tonminimise the effects on a buried pipe caused by the penetration of a rigid object in the ground.nDifferent types of reinforcements and reinforcement arrangements were tested. The penetratingnobject was driven in the ground under different inclinations to the vertical direction. Besides thenforce applied to the object, total stresses in the ground and pipe strains were measured. The resultsnobtained showed the beneficial effect of the reinforcement presence in increasing the forcennecessary for object penetration, as well as in reducing total stresses and strains in the pipe. Thenreinforcement arrangement with the geosynthetic layer enveloping the pipe was the one thatnperformed best.n.