Proceedings

Proceedings of the 8th International of IPC2010

Pipeline Conference
The 8th International Pipeline ConferenceIPC2010
September 27-October1,
September 2010,1,
27-October Calgary, Alberta,Alberta,
2010, Calgary, CanadaCanada

IPC2010-31043
IPC2010-0

ANALYSIS OF STRESSES ON BURIED PIPELINE SUBJECTED TO LANDSLIDE BASED

ON NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Bing Han
PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center
Langfang, Hebei, China
Jianbin Hao
School of Petroleum Engineering
Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan,China
PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center
Langfang, Hebei, China

Hongyuan Jing Jianping Liu Zhangzhong Wu

PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center
Langfang, Hebei, China Langfang, Hebei, China Langfang, Hebei, China

ABSTRACT threatened by geohazards, especially in western China. Some

The integrity of oil and gas pipelines is seriously impacted
by landslides in tough terrain in western China. The
quantitative assessment technology is an effective method for
pipelines risk management under threat of geohazard. In order
to establish the vulnerability assessment indexes system of
pipelines subjected to landslides, the numerical simulation
based on the finite element method is adopted to study the
pipeline axial stresses. There are five kinds of calculation
schemes considered by changing the geometrical sizes and
inclination angles of landslide, the pipeline length passing
through landslide and buried depth of pipeline, and the axial
stresses and bending moments of pipeline can be obtained by
means of numerical simulation for different calculation
conditions under the every kind of scheme. In the study,
regression analysis method is used to derive the axial stress
equation of pipeline from calculation results of numerical
simulation by taking into consideration the above five indexes.
The feasibility and practicality of this equation are verified by
the given example of a pipeline passing through a certain
landslide in southwest China. The comparison analysis between
the monitoring data and calculation results shows that the
calculation values agree well with the monitoring data of
pipeline axial stresses.
Key words: landslide; pipeline; stress analysis; numerical simulation;
regression analysis
INTRODUCTION
With Chinese economy on fast track, more and more long
distance oil and gas pipelines have being constructed in China.
As being 2/3 mountainous region out of a total 9.6 million km2
area, China is one of the countries in the world seriously
pipelines in western China, such as the Lanchengyu, Zhongwu
and Seninglan pipelines etc., were inevitably laid through tough
terrain and the cases of oil and gas pipeline damage caused by
landslides are common in mountainous regions. If the
geological conditions of mountain slopes were changed due to
the influence of external environment and artificial disturbance
caused by pipelines laying, they will tend to be unstable and
may pose a significant threat to pipeline integrity[1-3]. At present
the study on pipeline geohazards is mostly focused on the
deformation monitoring and treatment for geohazard body, and
there are few discussions about the state of pipeline stresses
under the external forces caused by soil movement. In order to
ensure the safety of the buried pipelines which passing through
active or potential landslides, we should pay attention to
studying the computing formula of pipe stress while strengthen
the deformation monitoring for pipelines, these will help us
improve and enhance the theoretical level of deformation
monitoring and preventing failure of pipelines.
In this paper, a solving method of axial stress on the basis
of numerical simulation and regression analysis for the
pipelines affected by landslides is introduced. The change
regularity of pipe stresses is analyzed by means of numerical
simulation for the five vulnerability assessment indexes,
including the distance between pipeline and landslide tail,
thickness and inclination angle of landslide, pipeline length
passing through landslide and buried depth of pipeline, the
axial stress equation of pipe is derived from calculation results
by regression analysis. The application of this method to a
pipeline passing through a certain landslide is also introduced
and its effectiveness is discussed.

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 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE VULNERABILITY
ASSESSMENT INDEXES
Calculation model
The calculation model can be established by applying
generalizability theory to typical landslide characteristics. The
mountain model is 100 meters long along axial direction of
pipeline, the foreside and tail of mountain model are 15 meters
and 28 meters high respectively, the distance between them is
80m. The bottom face of model is fixed in the x, y, z-directions,
and the side faces are fixed in normal direction. The slope
angle of model, geometrical sizes of slip mass and buried depth
of pipeline are different with calculation conditions. The
geometrical model and mesh generation diagram of finite
element are presented in figure 1. The elastoplastic model and
Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion are adopted in the study [4].
Calculation schemes and results
In this paper, the numerical simulation focuses on the
vulnerability assessment indexes of pipeline subjected to
landslide, including D, the distance between pipeline and
landslide tail, T, the thickness of landslide, , the inclination
angle of landslide, L, the pipeline length passing through
landslide, H, the buried depth of pipeline. There are four kinds
of calculation schemes designed for the indexes D, L, T and H
by only changing one of the four indexes while keeping the
other three ones constant, and the influence regularity of the
variation indexes on the axial stresses of pipe can be studied.
There are five different calculation conditions considered for
each kind of scheme, four varied inclination angles of landslide
for each calculation condition, and 80(4 5 4) times
calculations carried out in total. The table 2 shows the total
calculation schemes of the numerical simulation.

Table 2. The calculation schemes for D, L, T, H,

D L T H
D L T H
20 25 23 25
28 30 25 28
20m 15m 3m 1m
35 33 27 33
Figure1. The calculation model of pipeline passing through a
landslide 39 35 32 37
20 25 20 25
The mechanical parameters for geotechnical materials and
pipe are given based on borehole sample data in situ, laboratory 25 28 25 28
30m 20m 5m 1.5m
test on rock and soil mass and some interrelated specifications 30 33 28 33
and manuals, and they are listed in table 1.
36 36 33 36
Table 1. The mechanical parameters for geotechnical materials 20 22 22 22
and pipe
25 27 25 27
sorts bed slip slip 40m 25m 10m 2m
pipe 30 31 28 32
parameters rock surface mass
35 35 33 34
Poissons Ratio 0.23 0.35 0.33 0.28 18 20 18 20
23 25 22 25
elastic modulus 50m 30m 12m 2.5m
22 0.05 0.20 210 28 28 25 28
(GPa)
31 33 31 31
unit weight (KN/m3) 3200 1880 2070 7800 16 20 18 20
20 23 22 23
internal friction angle 60m 40m 15m 3m
46 15 25 - 24 28 25 26
(degree)
31 33 32 31
cohesion (MPa) 1.1 0.02 0.08 -
The axial stress contour maps of pipeline subjected to
landslide with the five vulnerability assessment indexes are
tensile strength(MPa) 1 0 0 360 presented in the figure 2.

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 .800E-03 .008092 .015384 .022676 .029967
.593E-04 .227E-03 .395E-03 .562E-03 .730E-03 .004446 .011738 .01903 .026322 .03
.143E-03 .311E-03 .478E-03 .646E-03 .81

(a) (e)

.523E-03 .611E-03 .698E-03 .786E-03 .873E-03 .673E-03 .006417 .012161 .017905 .023649
.567E-03 .654E-03 .742E-03 .829E-03 .917E- .003545 .009289 .015033 .020777 .02

(b) (f)
Figure 2. The axial stress contour maps of pipeline

Where
(a) D=20m, L=15m, T=3m, H=1m, =20
(b) D=20m, L=15m, T=3m, H=1m, =25
(c) D=40m, L=15m, T=3m, H=1m, =25
(d) D=40m, L=25m, T=3m, H=1m, =25
(e) D=40m, L=25m, T=10m, H=1m, =25
(f) D=40m, L=25m, T=10m, H=2m, =25

THE AXIAL STRESS AND BENDING MOMENT OF

PIPE
.253E-03 .002436 .00462 .006803 .008986
.001345 .003528 .005711 .007895 .010078

(c) The calculation of bending moment by stress

According to the theory of materials mechanics, we have
Mzy
x = (1)
Iz
Where
(R 4 r 4 )
Iz =
64
R
y=
2
x , axial stress
.398E-03 .004554 .00871 .012866 .017022
.002476 .006632

(d)
.010788 .014944 .01
M z , bending moment

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 I z , moment of inertia
R , outside diameter
r , inside diameter
The x can be obtained by means of numerical simulation,
so the M z can be gotten.
The calculation of external forces by bending moment
First we assume that the external forces caused by
landslide applied to pipeline are uniformly distributed along the
axial direction of pipeline in a parabolic shape[5], as seen in the
figure 3, the coordinate system can be established by selecting
any x-section, as follows:
1 4 1 3 1 2 1 a 3 b 2
Mc = ax bx cx + ( l + l + cl ) x
12 6 2 2 3 2
(5)
According to functional equation of external force, the
bending moment Mc of any position of pipeline can be
obtained. In order to easily make certain the functional relation
between q and each index and reduce the quantity of
calculation, letting a = - 1 , t h e n b = l, combining Eqs. (1) and
(5), letting M z = M c , the functional relation between constant c
and the five indexes can be determined by means of regression
analysis[6]. Figure 4 shows the regression analysis curves for
diverse in the case of D=20m, L=15m, T=3m, H=1m.

Mz =20simulation data
=20regression curve
10 =28simulation data
=28regression curve
9 =35simulation data
=35regression curve
8 =39simulation data
=39regression curve
7
6

(a) 5
4
3
2
1
0 x
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Figure. 4 The regression analysis curves of c for diverse

The functional relation between constant c and the

vulnerability assessment indexes of pipeline subjected to
(b)
landslide, including D, L, T, H and , can be determined by
Figure. 3 The distribution shape of external forces acting on a pipe
regression analysis to each index, as follows:
3.04
C D = 3.65( e 0.36 D )
The external forces caused by landslide applied to pipeline
are assumed symmetrical, and then the reaction support of the
end is a half of composition of external forces, as follows:
C L = 42.85( L )12.68
1 l
2 0
F1 = f ( x)dx e
(2)
(6)
CT = 27.05( 0.5T ) 7.54
According to F y = 0 , the shear force Q of any x-section e
may be obtained, as follows: 2.61
x
Q = F1 f ( x)dx (3) C H = 105.33( e 0.17 H )
0
The correlation between c and the five indexes is good
To make the support as a centre of moment, the bending
when using the power exponent expression, as follows:
moment M in any x-section can be obtained according to
M = 0 , as follows: c = a( f ( , )) b
x Where
M c = Qx + f ( x)dx (4) a and b are constants;
0
In order to simplify calculation, we determine the acting = ( D , or L , or T , or H )
force q in a parabolic shape as shown in figure 3. If making The total fitting equation can be obtained by taking into
q = a x 2 + b x + c , the bending moment Mc in any x-section can be account these five indexes as a whole, as follows:
obtained after substitution of Eqs. (2) and (3) into Eq. (4) and
1.96( )
simplification, as follows: c = 2.88 e e ( 0.36 D + L + 0.5T + 0.17 H )
(7)

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 The figure 5 shows the relation equation of c and the five
indexes, D, L, T, H, and . After substitution of Eqs. (5) and (7)
in Eq. (1), the axial stress equation of pipe can be obtained, as
follows:

x =
[ (
R x 4 2 Lx 3 6cx 2 + L3 + 6cL x )] (8)
24 I z
150
135
120
c=2.88e1.96x
105
90
(b) 2-2 section
Figure. 6 The engineering geologic profile of a certain landslide
75
c

60
45
The landslide develops in covering layer and belongs to
30
soil landslide. The slip surface shape of landslide is similar to
simulation data
15
arc, but it can also be approximately considered as two parts
regression curve
0
including the reverse curved section for tail and the straight
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 section for foreside, and the slope surface is approximately
x=/e(0.36D+L+0.5T+0.17H) parallel with the slip surface. The pipeline is laid through the
shear zone in the front of landslide and it will be extruded and
Figure. 5 The relation curve of c and the five indexes deform if the further movement of landslide happens.
The pipeline is X60 line pipe, the outside diameter is
VERIFICATION BY AN EXAMPLE 508mm, the wall thickness is 7.1mm, and the average buried
In order to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the depth of pipeline is about 1 meter.
above method based on numerical simulation and regression By using the established method on the basis of the
analysis, a pipeline passing through a certain landslide in vulnerability assessment indexes of pipeline subjected to
southwest China is selected as an example. The slip mass of landslide, we can calculate the axial stress of any point on
this landslide is about 50 meters long, 20 meters wide, 5 meters pipeline, and the maximum value is 59.5MPa. Meanwhile, we
deep in average, and its foreside and tail are 202 meters and have also applied the Fiber Bragg grating sensors to monitor
220 meters high respectively. The primary slip direction of the pipeline stresses, and the maximum value is 46.6MPa
landslide is 32 degree. According to the data by means of according to the monitoring data. The maximum stress obtained
borehole, exploratory well and survey of ground deformation, by means of the theoretical calculation is 78.32 percent the
we can draft the engineering geologic profile of the landslide, same as the value acquired from monitoring data. The figure 7
as shown in the figure 6. shows the axial stresses of diverse points on pipeline obtained
by means of theoretical calculation and monitoring two
different methods. The comparison between them shows that
the calculation values agree well with the monitoring data of
pipe axial stresses.

70
monitoring data
60
calculating data

50

40
(MPa)

30

(a) 1-1 section 20

10

0
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
x(m)

Figure. 7 The comparison between calculation values and

monitoring data of pipe axial stresses

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 ground subsidence, Proceedings of the International Pipeline
Conference, IPC1998, Vol 2, pp749-756
CONCLUDING REMARKS
y The verification results by an example show that the
established calculation method of axial stresses of pipeline
subjected to landslide by means of numerical simulation
and regression analysis has a preferable practical
applicability, but this method still needs large numbers of
examples to further verify the efficacy and reliability, and
it should be modified according to the varied verification
results.
y It is a primary concern that the axial stresses of pipeline
subjected to landslide, so we take no account of the effect
of the internal pressure on axial stresses of pipeline in the
numerical simulation. In fact, the operation pressure of
pipeline is relatively small compared with the external
forces caused by soil movement of landslide if the internal
pressure is regarded as 10MPa, and it can be ignored to
the effect of internal pressure on the calculation results of
axial stresses of pipeline subjected to landslide without
considering of pressure fluctuation.
y In this paper, we consider only the stress characteristics
under the circumstances that the axial direction of pipeline
is vertical to the primary slip direction of landslide. In
fact, the laying way and trend of pipeline which passing
through landslide have significant effect on the
calculation results of axial stresses of pipeline, so it is
important that we should further carry out the research on
stress characteristics under the circumstances that the
axial direction of pipeline is parallel to the primary slip
direction of landslide, or there is an angle between with
them.

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