Mechanical Damage and Response of a Buried Steel Pipeline Under Subsurface Explosion Load

Abstract Subsurface explosions seriously threaten the safety and reliability of buried oil and gas pipeline. In order to investigate the mechanical responses of buried steel pipeline under subsurface explosion load, a numerical model of pipeline–soil coupling under explosion load was developed. Stress, displacement, plastic deformation, and local buckling of the buried pipeline were investigated. The effects of trinitrotoluene (TNT) magnitude, pipeline diameter-thickness ratio, pipeline's buried depth, explosive depth, and explosive offset on the mechanical response of pipeline were studied. The results show that the response time of buried pipeline is very short under the explosion load. There is a dent appearing on the pipeline section toward the exploding location. Cross-sectional area of the pipeline decreases along the time during the explosion, but it gradually increases for the elastic recovery. Pipeline's deformation and total energy increase gradually with the increasing of trinitrotoluene magnitude or diameter-thickness ratio, but they decrease with the increasing of the buried depth or explosive offset. With the explosive depth increases, the pipeline's plastic deformation first increases and then decreases. The pipeline's energy curve can be used to determine the buckling state under explosion load. The empirical formulas of the maximum strain and dent rate for buried pipelines have been obtained and can be used for the pipeline safety assessment.