Response of Reinforced Concrete and Corrugated Steel Pipes to Surface Load

Abstract

Full-scale simulated live load tests were conducted in a controlled laboratory setting using a single-axle frame on 600-mm-inner-diameter reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) and corrugated steel pipe (CSP) when buried in dense, well-graded sand and gravel. Measurements of the RCP at nominal and working forces and beyond are reported for 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 m of soil cover above the pipe crown. The RCP experienced no cracking when buried at 0.3 m under nominal and working CL-625 and CL-800 single-axle design loads. At these loads, the vertical contraction of the pipe diameter was less than 0.08 and 0.10 mm and the largest tensile strains in the pipe were 75 and 100 με (50-60% of the cracking strain), respectively. A 0.15 (±0.05)-mm-wide axial crack developed at the inner crown in the presence of a 6 kNm/m circumferential bending moment (70% of the theoretical ultimate moment capacity) at the fully factored CL-625 load. This crack did not propagate or widen from 3 series of cyclic load-unload tests. At 1300 kN of applied load the change in pipe diameter was less than 3.5 mm. Increasing soil cover from 0.3 to 0.6 to 0.9 m reduced the circumferential crown bending moment from 6.0 to 3.9 to 2.1 kNm/m, respectively, at 400 kN of axle load. A 1.6- and a 2.8-mm-thick CSP were also subjected to axle loading. No yielding or limit states occurred in the 1.6-mm-thick CSP when buried 0.9-m-deep. However, at 0.6 m of cover a 300 kN axle load caused local yielding at the pipe crown. Increasing soil cover from 0.6 to 0.9 m decreased the vertical diameter change from -3.0 to -1.2 mm and the crown bending moment from 0.7 to 0.2 kNm/m (75% and 20% of the yield moment), respectively, at a 250 kN axle load. Deflections of the thicker CSP were less than the thinner pipe below the CL-625 single-axle load, however further increases in applied load produced a greater response in the thicker pipe, likely due to a haunch support issue. Shallow axle loading produced a greater 3-dimensional response and a larger bending effect in both CSPs.