ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Earth and Planetary Materials
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Structure, Characterization, and Failure Mechanisms of Geomaterials: Theoretical, Experimental, and Numerical ApproachesView all 23 articles
Mechanical Properties Analysis of Underground Municipal Pipelines Subjected to Traffic Loads
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jiaxing Nanyang Polytechnic Institute, Jiaxing, China
- 2Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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This study delves into the mechanical properties of underground municipal pipelines under traffic loads, utilizing numerical simulations to explore the dynamic response of pipelines at varying burial locations and assess their ultimate load-bearing capacity. A simulation model was constructed using the multi-physical FEM software, focusing on the stress behavior of shallowly buried pipelines subject to traffic loading. The findings reveal that the impact of traffic loads supersedes that of soil self-weight stress for shallowly buried pipes. Pipelines located be-neath the carriageway experience greater forces compared to those beneath sidewalks, with minimal influence of centerline offset at consistent burial depths. Notably, the top, bottom, and waist portions of the pipeline are identified as particularly vulnerable regions, with rotation of the maximum force axis observed during shallow burial and deviation from the road centerline. This research provides theoretical insights for optimizing the layout of pipelines beneath urban roads, en-suring their operational safety and sustainability.
Keywords: Concrete pipe, Geomechanics, Mechanical Properties, numerical simulation, Traffic load
Received: 21 Aug 2025; Accepted: 11 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liao, Fang, Zhao and CHENG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zihua CHENG
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