Analysis of Behavior for Underground Flexible Pipes

지중 연성관의 거동특성 분석

Underground flexible pipes for electric cables are subject to external loads and surrounding soil pressure. Particularly, strain of flexible pipes is of great concern in terms of safety and maintenance for electric cables. In this paper, stress and strain of flexible pipes with various depth are calculated using traditional formula and FEM analysis. The results show that theoretical values are more conservative in strain whereas FEM analysis gives larger stress. Considering the strain criteria - 3.5 %, maximum, flexible pipes can be buried at the range of 50cm to 5m in depth without additional soil improvement.