Study on Failure Characteristics of Buried Concrete Pipelines under Vehicle Load

With the increasing frequency of urban ground collapse incidents, understanding the mechanisms of pipeline damage—one of the primary causes of such accidents—has become critically important. Pipelines located beneath roads are particularly prone to cracking and damage due to prolonged exposure to vehicle loads. At present, there is a scarcity of dedicated research investigating the progression of crack propagation in pipelines from the initial stage of cracking to the point of structural failure. This study focuses on buried concrete pipelines and investigates their failure characteristics under static vehicle loading conditions. Numerical simulations were conducted using the discrete element method (DEM) to analyze the damage patterns of concrete pipelines. It also examined the vertical displacement of the surrounding soil and the settlement deformation of the road surface structure. The conclusions drawn are as follows: (1) cracks predominantly concentrate at the crown, invert, and sides of the pipe, evolving through four distinct stages, with initial cracks exhibiting rapid propagation; and (2) during the initial loading phase, the displacement of the road and soil is markedly partitioned; however, as the load value decreases, this partitioning of displacement distribution progressively diminishes. The findings provide valuable insights for the design of urban underground pipelines and the prevention of ground collapse.