Generalized Thermo‐Hydro‐Mechanical Responses of Functional Gradient Pipeline‐Surrounding Soil System Considering Interfacial Conditions

ABSTRACT The optimal design of the marine pipeline‐seabed foundation system is a pressing and pivotal challenge that urgently needs to be solved in the field of oil and gas storage and transportation. It would be interesting to know how the pipeline material and the thermal contact resistance affect the pipeline‐foundation thermal consolidation mechanism. In this paper, the pipeline is firstly designed as a functional gradient material, and the soil is regarded as a saturated pore‐thermoelastic medium. Secondly, consider the thermal resistance effect between the pipeline and the surrounding soil. Laplace transform and its inverse transformation are employed to solve the generalized thermo‐hydro‐mechanical responses of the functional gradient pipeline‐surrounding soil system, which is subjected to thermal loadings. The effects of functional gradient functions, carbon fiber contents, functional gradient parameters, and thermal contact resistances on the temperature, displacement, radial stress, and pore water pressure are analyzed. Numerical results show that the introduction of the functional gradient material and thermal contact resistance will reduce the heat transfer efficiency of the pipeline, and thereby decrease the deformation and pore water pressure of the surrounding soil.