Numerical simulation of the stress-strain state of pipelines ballasted with weighting materials in a swamp

Relevance. The surfaced section of a gas pipeline, ballasted with weights, in a swamp qualifies as «damaged» and must be decommissioned. Aim. To establish the effect of the weight of weighting agents on a gas pipeline ascent in a swamp. The weight depends on the concentration of moles soluble in water, changes in the values of the physico-mechanical characteristics of the soil due to its watering, and the parameters of the gas pipeline operation. Objects. Sections of a gas pipeline, ballasted with weights, in a swamp in a watered area. Methods. Modeling the stress-strain state of a gas pipeline, ballasted with weighting agents, in a swamp by a one-dimensional rod system consisting of rods and their coupling nodes; integration by the Godunov orthogonal run method of a normal system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations describing the stress-strain state of the rods and compiling a solution of systems of algebraic equilibrium equations in the coupling nodes, taking into account the impact of weighting agents on stress-strain state. Results. The paper introduces the brief information on the surfacing of gas pipelines with weights installed on them. The authors have set and solved the problem of the stress-strain state of the section of the gas pipeline consisting of the middle underwater part, ballasted with reinforced concrete weights, and the extreme flooded underground parts. The analysis of the stress-strain state of the gas pipeline established the following main reasons for its ascent: uneven unequal sedimentation of the base soil on the extreme parts, in which the pipe remains in a trench filled with soil; reducing the weight of weighting agents in water due to an increase in the specific gravity of water due to the growth of concentration of moles dissolved in water. The authors found the critical values of the operating parameters, at which the bulging of the pipe with an upward deflection arrow begins, preceding the ascent of the gas pipeline.