Numerical investigation of effect of geotextile and pipe stiffness on buried pipe behavior

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation of the effect of geotextile reinforcement on underlying buried pipe behavior using PLAXIS 3D. In this study, variable parameters such as the in-plane stiffness of the geotextile, the pipe stiffness, the soil stiffness, the footing width, the geotextile width, and the location of the geotextile reinforcement layer are investigated. Deflections and bending moments acting on the pipe are evaluated for different combinations of variables and are presented graphically. It is observed that with an increase in the in-plane stiffness of the geotextile reinforcement, there is a tendency for a decrease in both deflections in the pipe and bending moments acting on the pipe. Conversely, with an increase in the pipe stiffness, geotextile reinforcement efficiency decreases. In the investigated region of soil stiffness, for the given pipe and geotextile stiffness, an optimum efficiency of geotextile is observed in medium dense soils. Further, it is shown that relative lengths of geotextile and footing has an important role on geotextile efficiency. Lastly, it is also demonstrated that relative location of geotextile layer with respect to the buried pipe plays an important role on the geotextile efficiency in reducing the bending moments acting on the pipe and deflections in the pipe. In general, geotextiles are more efficient in reducing the bending moments as opposed to reducing deflections of the pipe. Numerical validation is done with an experimental study from the literature to observe the applicability of the numerical model used. © 2023 Techno-Press, Ltd. http://www.techno-press.org/?journal=gae&subpage=.