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The Effect of the Spatial Variability of Clay Structure on Pipeline Uplift Capacity

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Tom CharltonORCiD, Professor Mohamed Rouainia

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Abstract

© 2016 ASCE. Previous studies of pipeline uplift capacity in undrained clays have often employed elastic-perfectly plastic models and consider a uniform clay. Such approaches may be unable to capture the true mechanical behaviour. Firstly, the behaviour of natural clays is affected by inter-particle bonding, or structure, which cannot be accounted for using simple elasto-plastic models. Secondly, spatial variability is well-known to be an inherent feature of seabed sediments. Remoulding and reconsolidation around the pipeline are likely to exacerbate this characteristic, with the operative shear strength being difficult to predict. In this paper, an advanced kinematic hardening model implemented in a finite element code is used to capture the degradation of structure as a pipeline buried in a natural clay is loaded to its uplift capacity. The spatial variability of clay structure is represented by a random field and Monte Carlo simulation used to characterise the response. This novel application shows that clay structure has a significant effect on the failure mechanism and uplift capacity of a buried pipeline.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Charlton T, Rouainia M

Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

Publication status: Published

Conference Name: Geo-Risk 2017

Year of Conference: 2017

Pages: 340-349

Online publication date: 01/06/2017

Acceptance date: 02/04/2016

ISSN: 0895-0563

Publisher: ASCE

URL: https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784480717.032

DOI: 10.1061/9780784480717.032

Series Title: Geotechnical Special Publications


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