Research on the interaction between trench material and pipeline under fault displacement

Abstract With the large-scale construction of oil and gas pipelines, the safety issues of long-distance buried pipelines in the service and construction have become increasingly prominent. The complex geological and topographical conditions of the special zone will put forwards extremely high requirements on pipe trench laying backfill materials and construction technology. For example, pipelines are inevitable to cross the active fault, while the trench backfilled with soil has limitations in protecting them from failure under the active fault displacement caused by the earthquake. Therefore, it is necessary to study the pipe–soil interaction mechanism, determine the stress state of the pipeline and propose a new backfilling material that can protect the pipeline from failure. Foam concrete (FC) provides a new choice to backfill the buried pipeline trench due to its high-homogeneity, lightweight, controllable-strength, and self-compacting. To further determine the applicability of the FC, the pipe-FC interaction mechanism is studied. Then, a FE model of the FC-pipeline-soil interaction system is established by Abaqus to quantitatively analyze the applicability of the FC based on the experimental data of the mechanical performance of the FC. It proves that using FC as trench backfill material has a noticeable protective effect on the pipeline under the earthquake-induced displacement of the normal fault. Furthermore, FC has a better protective effect on the pipeline subjected to compressive than tensile. Therefore, the reference for applying FC in trench backfilling of pipelines crossing normal fault is provided.