The investigation of ultra-long-distance concrete pipe stuck in quartz sandstone formation using numerical simulation

During mountainous area construction by long-distance pipe jacking, the pipe stuck encountered. To reveal the cause of the pipe stuck, this paper investigates the pipe surface frictional resistance corresponding to different burial depths and surrounding rock parameters by ADINA finite element analysis. Parameter sensitivity analysis results show that the cohesion effect on the frictional resistance was small, the frictional resistance tended to decrease markedly with the increasing other rock mechanical parameters and the decreasing burial depth and friction coefficient of the pipes. After continuing to consider the prerequisite of simultaneously changing the elastic modulus, internal friction angle and burial depth conditions, a solution of the maximum number of pipes driven by a single intermediate jacking station (IJS) was reduced from 59 to 40 was proposed based on an integration of simulations with the field monitoring results. Finally, the pipe jacking project was successfully completed after adopting the improvement proposals.