Dynamic Response of Buried Natural Gas Pipelines under Horizontal Directional Drilling Loads

Due to the unobservable nature of underground construction and the destructive nature of horizontal directional drilling rigs with high power, this type of construction has become one of the most important causes of failure of long-distance natural gas pipelines. In recent years, horizontal directional drilling construction has caused pipeline accidents frequently. Once the accident occurs, the normal operation of natural gas pipelines cannot be ensured. Therefore, studying the damage mechanism of buried natural gas pipelines under horizontal directional drilling loads is important for the safe operation of pipelines. This paper combines the construction characteristics of horizontal directional drilling and the actual situation of natural gas pipelines to explore the relationship between horizontal directional drilling and pipelines. The force situation of pipelines after contacting directional drilling bits is analyzed by the drill bit-soil-pipe finite element model created in the ABAQUS software. The Johnson–Cook ductile damage model was utilized to determine the pipe’s damage condition. The sensitivity analysis results show that he order of the impact of key parameters on the dynamic response of the pipe is bit thrust [Formula: see text] wall thickness [Formula: see text] bit diameter [Formula: see text] pipe diameter [Formula: see text] bit speed [Formula: see text] number of bit teeth [Formula: see text] pipe operating pressure. Therefore, priority should be given to controlling the size of the drilling thrust and the speed of the drill bit to reduce the damage to pipelines by horizontal directional drilling construction. In addition, appropriately reducing the pipeline operating pressure can also reduce the risk of the pipeline being damaged by horizontal directional drilling construction.