POSTFAILURE BEHAVIOR OF BURIED PIPE

A study of the postfailure behavior and the safety of buried pipe is presented. A method based on soil-structure interaction is developed for the postfailure analysis. This method is applied to a deeply buried prestressed concrete pipe after complete loss of prestressing. The analysis is performed at two different cross sections along the pipeline. In one, the pipe is under open water and thus submerged; in the other, the pipe is inland, away from open water. The results of the analysis show that the soil surrounding the buried pipe can provide sufficient support to prevent high compressive stresses and excessive deformations, even after the pipe becomes a mechanism. Consequently, the failed pipe does not collapse.