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Buried Pipe Stresses

1 Introduction
This example demonstrates how SIGMA/W can create a mesh with a circular opening and how a beam
can be applied to the surface of the opening to represent a structural liner. In addition, the example shows
how it is possible to consider the possibility of slip between the structural liner and the surrounding soil.

2 Problem configuration
Figure 1 shows the problem setup. Basically, it is a box with a 1.5 m diameter circular opening. A surface
pressure of 100 kPa is applied on the surface, and the objective is to determine how this pressure is
transmitted to the liner with and without the possibility of slip between the liner and the surrounding soil.

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

-0.5
-0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

Metres

Figure 1 Problem configuration

The opening is created with the Draw Regions command. The only mesh property specified is that
globally the element size should be about 0.1 m. Beyond this, the resulting beautiful mesh is created
automatically.

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The perimeter of the opening is treated in SIGMA/W as a Line object. This makes it possible to create
interface elements along the Line, as shown in Figure 2. Furthermore, a beam can be applied to the Line.
In this case, it is a curved Line, but it is nonetheless a Line object in SIGMA/W.

Figure 2 Interface elements and beam around the opening

The circular opening is defined by a Point at the center and one other Point on the perimeter. The
perimeter Point was selected purposely at the invert of the culvert. This is simply for discussion
convenience. We will see later, when we look at the culvert bending stresses, that it is nice to refer to the
ends of the graph as at the culvert invert.

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3 No slip case
The compression of the soil, together with the culvert, is shown in Figure 3. Notice the slight oval shape
of the culvert, which is consistent with what one would expect.

Figure 3 Compression and displacement with no slip (5X exaggeration)

Figure 4 shows the axial pipe forces and the bending moments. The ends of the graph are at the culvert
invert (bottom of the culvert). The axial forces are the highest at mid-height or at the widest level, and the
lowest at the top. The highest bending moments occur more or less equally at the quarter-points starting at
the invert.

Pipe stresses without slip Pipe stresses without slip

130 5

4
120
3

110 2
Axial Force (kN)

Moment (kN-m)

1
100
0
90
-1

80 -2

-3
70
-4

60 -5
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Distance (m) Distance (m)

Figure 4 Pipe axial forces and bending moments

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4 With slip case

By allowing for some slip between the culvert and the soil, the culvert itself experiences less downward
movement, as illustrated by Figure 5. The amount of the movement is not that significant, but it does
demonstrate that the soil-structure interaction is influenced by the slip.

Figure 5 Displacement with and without slip (5X exaggeration)

The axial forces in the culvert or pipe are significantly lower with the slip than without the slip, as
presented in Figure 6. The lower curve with the square symbols is for the case with the slip. The bending
moments are not all that different, as indicated by the graph on the right in Figure 6.

Pipe stresses Pipe stresses

130 5

4
120
3

110 2
Axial Force (kN)

Moment (kN-m)

1
100
0
90
-1

80 -2

-3
70
-4

60 -5
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Distance (m) Distance (m)

Figure 6 Axial forces and bending moments for case with and without slip

5 Concluding remarks
This example illustrates how simple it is to create an opening in the mesh, and how easy it is to consider
the soil-structure interaction for a case like a buried culvert or tunnel lining, for example.

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