Research Projects

The project addresses a critical issue in infrastructure management. The proposed project is designed in three work packages (WPs) to develop a comprehensive analytical model that will provide previously unattainable levels of fidelity in predicting the response of soil-pipeline systems under large numbers of cycles. By integrating the project outcomes within existing design guidelines, Engineers will be provided with novel advanced design methodologies - particularly for applications where prescribing high safety factors to avoid project risks is not an option. The research will integrate pipeline-scale experimental testing (WP1) and advanced numerical simulations (WP2) to evaluate the long-term performance of buried pipelines subjected to cyclic loads resulting from daily or seasonal temperature variations or changes in the temperature of internal hot liquids or gases. The proposed experimental setup will include a soil chamber, an instrumented pipe (for response measurements), an actuator (for applying cyclic loads), a load cell (for measuring global axial resistance), and a data acquisition system. It will also allow for the placement of native soil, bedding materials, backfill, and absorbing boundaries to replicate real field conditions. Boundary effects will be cross-checked by placing pressure gauges at the boundaries to measure changes in normal stresses during the experiments. LVDTs (linear variable differential transformers), FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) strain sensors, and Stroud cells will be used to record pipe displacement, axial soil resistance, and stress distribution at various key locations along the pipe, respectively. Numerical simulations will be conducted using the finite element-based program Abaqus3D to validate the experimental findings and extend the research to explore possible mitigation techniques for enhancing the stability and design life of buried pipelines. The findings from both experimental and numerical studies (WP1 and WP2) will contribute to developing a comprehensive analytical formulation to estimate cyclic axial resistance (WP3). This project will drive changes in current design guidelines by integrating the proposed analytical model, which could provide companies—particularly in green energy sectors like hydrogen transport, thermal energy storage (TES), and district heating and cooling (DHC) systems—with a competitive advantage. The project's outcomes will drive future collaborative research projects, enabling partnerships between academia and industry for further development and innovation in the area of analytical frameworks for industrial use for other structures such as pile foundations and offshore wind turbine foundations, as these are also based on fundamental principles of soil-structure interaction. Therefore the impact of the proposed research will go beyond the application to pipeline design.