NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS FOR THERMOPLASTIC PIPES

Thermoplastic pipes are being used increasingly for water supply lines, storm sewers, and leachate collection systems in landfills. To facilitate limit states design for buried polymer pipes, nonlinear constitutive models have recently been developed to characterize the highly nonlinear and time-dependent material behavior of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). These models have been implemented in a finite element program to permit structural analysis for buried HDPE pipes and to provide information regarding performance limits of the structures. Predictions of HDPE pipe response under parallel plate loading and hoop compression in a soil cell are reported and compared with pipe response measured in laboratory tests. Effects on the structural performance of pipe material nonlinearity, geometrical nonlinearity, and backfill soil properties were investigated. Good correlations were found between the finite element predictions and the experimental measurements. The models can be used to predict pipe response under many different load histories (not just relaxation or creep). Work is ongoing to develop nonlinear constitutive models for polyvinylchloride and polypropylene to extend the predictive capability of the finite element model to these materials.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/1624-26
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=NONLINEAR+FINITE+ELEMENT+ANALYSIS+FOR+THERMOPLASTIC+PIPES&author=C.+Zhang&author=I.+Moore&publication_year=1998
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309064694
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1624, Structural Analysis and Design: Bridges, Culverts, and Pipes.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Zhang, Chunbo
  • Moore, I D
• Publication Date: 1998

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: p. 225-230
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1624
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Backfilling; Design; Ethylene resins; Finite element method; Forecasting; Future; High density; Laboratory tests; Limit state design; Mathematical models; Nonlinear systems; Performance; Pipe; Properties of materials; Research; Soils; Structural analysis; Structural mechanics; Thermoplastic materials; Ultimate load design; Underground structures
• Uncontrolled Terms: Future research; High density polyethylene; Nonlinearity; Soil properties; Structural response; Time dependent behavior
• Old TRIS Terms: Backfills
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; Research; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00756091
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309064694
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Nov 3 1998 12:00AM