Settlement of a Pipeline on Thawing Permafrost

A buried oil pipeline in permafrost will thaw the frozen soil around it, and will settle as the thawed soil consolidates. Because the amount of ice in the soil varies from point to point along the pipe alignment, the settlement will be uneven, and will induce bending in the pipe. Thaw settlement est...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Palmer, Andrew C.
Other Authors: BROWN UNIV PROVIDENCE RI DIV OF ENGINEERING
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1971
Subjects:
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
Civil Engineering
*PIPES
*CONSTRUCTION
*PERMAFROST
SIMULATION
NETWORKS
INTENSITY
STATISTICAL PROCESSES
UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
MELTING
ALIGNMENT
BENDING
SOIL MECHANICS
*PIPELINES
Ice
permafrost
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0722673
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0722673
Description
Summary:A buried oil pipeline in permafrost will thaw the frozen soil around it, and will settle as the thawed soil consolidates. Because the amount of ice in the soil varies from point to point along the pipe alignment, the settlement will be uneven, and will induce bending in the pipe. Thaw settlement estimates from single boreholes give no information about the possible magnitude of differential settlements, and instead statistical measures of the intensity of fluctuations in thaw settlement have to be used. Alternative sources of the required data are suggested, and two different ways of estimating the effects on the pipe are described, one way being based on random process theory and the other on statistical simulation. The flexural stiffness of the pipe modifies the settlement, and methods of taking this effect into account are explained.

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