Numerical modeling of pipe-soil interaction under oblique loading

This paper studies pipe-soil interaction for pipelines subjected to combined horizontal and vertical (upward) movements in the oblique direction. An associative, hardening elasto-plasticity model is proposed in the horizontal-vertical (p-q) load space for pipes buried in clay. The failure surface is proposed based on experimental observations. Involving seven parameters that can be determined either experimentally or based on the recommendations of ASCE guidelines, the proposed approach reproduces the key features of force-displacement responses obtained from continuum finite element analyses for pipes of different sizes and various burial depth ratios.