Journal of the Korean Geo-Environmental Society ISSN:1598-0820(Print) 2714-1233(Online) 한국지반환경공학회 논문집

This paper investigates the effects of micro-tunneling on buried pipelines parametrically. A simplified numerical approach was developed and various parametric studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of ground settlements on the response of buried pipelines. The controlled parameters included the pipe stiffness, ground loss magnitude, and pipe location with respect to a micro-tunnel. Maximum settlement and curvature along a pipeline have been investigated and compared among others for different conditions. In addition, the numerical results have been compared with a theoretical method by Attewell et al. (1986), which is based on a Winkler type linear-elastic solution. The comparison indicated that the response of buried pipes to micro-tunneling-induced ground settlements highly depends on the soil-pipe interaction including the separation and slippage of pipe from soil with the effects of the investigated parameters. Therefore, rather than using the theoretical method directly, it would be a better assessment of the response of buried pipelines to consider the soil-pipe interaction in more realistic conditions.