Erosion of soil around damaged buried water pipes—a critical review.

Damage or deterioration of water distribution or storm water drain pipeline systems create a problem of leakage, which has the potential to erode its surrounding soil. This erosion, if not detected in time, can form a large cavity in the ground and consequently results in catastrophic failure. This paper presents a detailed review of soil erosion due to damaged buried pipe using experimental and numerical evidence available in the literature. Herein, erosion is explained using two different flow possibilities, namely, infiltration and exfiltration. A comprehensive discussion on the method of investigation and the erosion mechanism, along with the governing parameters used in the investigation and their challenges, are presented. This review paper also discusses two other issues, that is, the rate of erosion and the volume of cavity formed due to erosion. Both the issues seem to be governed by the hydraulic gradient in the soil, the size of the defect in the pipe and the size of soil particles surrounding the defect. Important empirical and analytical methods which are used to predict the size of the cavity as well as the leakage rate and pressure drop, are also discussed. The location and size of the cavity seems to be highly dependent on the groundwater level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]