LINER MARK TALESNICI(i and RAFAEL BAKER Deparrrnent of Civil Enginrcring, Techniqp. Trchrrolo3y. Haifa 32000, trracl
I$.rl lnrtirurc of
(Receloed 15 Scptcnbtr 19971
Aictrect-This rludy documeots lhc functional failurs ola concrclo lined rlecl cewrgo pipe, Symptomr of thc ppe failua rrc pr$cnled. Failurc of lhc piPc systcm crn bc aurihttcd to incompadbitily bctwcen thc mechanical bchavior of lh. pipe .nd lhc tncthodology cmployrd in its dorigrr, Thc undcrlyinj raulc of thc failurc may bc traced to t lack of sufrcicnt baekill sriffncs* ,, riru tmtirrg rvas trred to evaluatc thc stiffncss of thc sidc backfill. Thc orisiing pipe-trcnch rystcm condition war rnrlyrcd numcrically and a criterion developod lor ths considcration of thr rtructural intcgrity of thc pipclinc, @ 1998 Ekcdor Scicnce Ltd. All righlr rscrwd, Kcywor&l Corosion protcction, fitrwrs for purposa, pipclinc failurel, I. INTRODUCTION The prcscnt papcr documents a failure of a large diamcter concretc lined steel scwagc pipe, buried in a clay soil profile. The projoct consistcd of a 3.5 km long gravity pipc in ccntral Isracl which failed before bcing placed in scrvicc. Thc prcscnt contribution documents thc failure of this pip+ trench $ystom. Ficld and laboratory testing provided significant insight into the probable causc(s) of failure. The casc study acccntuates somc basic decign principlcs, os well as the use of simplc ficld tcst$ as an effectivc diagnostic tool to cvaluate sitc conditions. 2. DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND SITE CONDITIONS Thc scwaga piplinc wa6 designed and constructed in ccntral Isracl during I992-1994. The design called for a stecl pipe with an inner diameter of 120 cm and a wall thickncss of 0.64 cm. The inner surfaoe of the pipe was lined with an aluminum based ccrnent of betwccr L8 and 2.2 cm thickrrx; The primary purposc of the innor lincr was to provide proteclion of the stccl pipe from the 4fiots of the corrosive sowagc flowing inside, The outcr surfae of thc pipe was covcred by a2,5 cm,lhick concrete hyer. The design of the pipc*trench system was based on a floxiblo pipc criterion. This implics that the pipe maintains structural and functional intcgrity by mobilizing latcral rosistancc from the surrounding soil. The pipc was designcd to withstand static soil loads alone, A design ssction of tho pipc-trench systcm is shown schomatically in Fig. l. The pipc invcrt was founded at a depth ofbetween 4.5 and 5.5 m below thc ground surface, dcpcnding on thc natural topography. The natural soil consists of a highly plastic clay (CH, liquid limit: qrr * 620/o, plasticity index I, = 36%), A puchcd watcr table (dcpths of as little as 2-3 m) cxists in part of the project arca. The design specified the cxcavation of a2.5 m wide trcnch
(twice the pipc dihtetcr), placomcnt of a 20 cm thick layer of poorly graded
gravcl (GP) with a particle sizc bctween l6 and 20 mm. The pipe was placed directly on the gravel layer. Following placement of the pipe soctior the design spocified that (a) dune sand (SP) with calcareous concrelions (Doo : 0.I7 mm and Dro : 0.12 mm) be placpd around thc pipe to a height of 30 cm abova thc pipe crown elevation; (b) above that 'Author
to whorn corrcspondcncc rhould bc addttrsed,
Reprinted from Englneerlng Failure Anatysis 5 (3), 247-259 (1998)