3D Finite Element Analysis of a Large-

Diameter Pipe Jacking During

Construction Stage
Gao Zhenyu*
School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China
*Corresponding Author, e-mail: [email protected]

Mo Haihong
School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China
e-mail: [email protected]

Yang Chunshan
School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China
e-mail: [email protected]

Li Jinhua
School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China
e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Taking the Xijiang River Water Diversion Project in Guangzhou as background, an elasto-plastic
simulation is carried out with FEM program to analyze the deformation and stability of soil and the
influences of jack pressure on resistance of soil. The results show that the vertical displacements are
similar to Peck settling tank. The vertical and horizontal distributions of the horizontal displacement
reveal the approximate linear and quadratic parabola.The unbalanced force has been acted on backing
plate, so it should adjust the jack pressure not to cause the large local stress. The ratio between
theoretical calculation of the passive earth pressure and the soil resistance of numerical calculation
meet the stability criteria and the state of soil is stable. The effect of jack pressure on soil resistance is
small because the jack pressures acted on backing plate can be relatively uniform transferred to the
soil, while the influence is relatively significant on the edge of backing plate. Comparing with the
field measurements, it indicates that the modeling method is valid.
KEYWORDS: pipe jacking engineering; stability of soil; soil deformation; resistance of
soil; numerical simulation introduction

INTRODUCTION
The pipe jacking method constitutes a major segment of tunneling construction technology,
which the pipe laying can be done without soil excavation and has the incomparable advantages,
thus the method is widely used [1]. However, the deformation of soil will occur inevitably under

- 781 -
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 782

pipe jacking construction as well as the additional stress that affect the condition of soil, especially
the soil surrounding backing plate. Meanwhile the effect of stress condition on the stability of the
working well is significant. So the deformation, the resistance and the stability of soil are important
subjects during the jacking pipe construction stage.
In recent years, researchers have used a variety of approaches to explore the related problems.
Yan Zhiguo et al [2] used non-linear finite element software for three-dimensional elasto-plastic
numerical simulation of pipe jacking; they analyzed the stability of working well and verified the
feasibility of construction scheme. Li Fangnan et al [3] proposed a new method to calculate soil
deformation caused by pipe jacking with consideration of grouting pressure combined with the
current calculation method and the method is verified during the actual pipe jacking construction.
Ding Wenqi et al [4] raised ultra-large diameter pipe jacking classification method of whole
construction phases based on the comparison of the disturbance mechanism of medium diameter,
small diameter pipe jacking and shield tunneling as well as the field measurement of water and soil
pressure. Though the above researches are extensive and the numerical simulation is also adopted,
the study on resistance and stability of soil are very few.
The FEM software was conducted to carry out numerical simulation of pipe jacking
construction combined with typical engineering example in this work. Soil disturbance, soil
stability and effect of pipe-jacking on soil resistance are analyzed under 1000 tonf pipe-jacking
pressure during the construction and some useful conclusions are obtained, which are references for
researches of the large-diameter pipe jacking construction.

ENGINEERING BACKGROUND
The design water transfer capacity of Guangzhou Xijiang diversion project is 350×104 m3/d.
The project includes one water intake pumping station, one water supply pumping station, 47.6 km
main line of water transferring and 24 km branch line of water supplying. The diameter of jacking
pipe is 2800 mm and the total length is about 234 m. One initial working well is analyzed and the
diameter, thickness and depth of working well are respectively 12 m, 0.7 m and 9.5 m. The
thickness of soil over the pipe is 6 m and the size of backing plate is 4m×4m. Three rows of
chemical churning piles whose diameter is 600 mm are applied to strengthen soil surrounding
working well and 200 mm plain concrete cushion is laid under the working well. The elevation of
working well is shown in Fig.1.

Figure 1: The elevation of the working well (unit: m)

 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 783

NUMERICAL SIMULATION
The boundary condition of the model
According to engineering experience and FEM calculation results, the affected width of soil is
about 3 to 5 times as the foundation depth as well as the affected depth is 2 to 4 times. Therefore,
the width and depth of calculation model are 30 m and 20 m respectively. The width of settling tank
during pipe jacking is about 15 to 20 m [6-7], this work taken 4 times as the pipe diameter.
Calculation model size is set to be X+Y+Z= 40 m + 40 m + 30 m based on the analysis above.
Three-dimensional solid elements were applied to simulate soil, working well and backing plate
of the model, and embedded truss unit elements were used to simulate reinforced HRB335. The
model consists of 36030 elements and 8092 nodes and the general model is shown in Fig. 2 to 3.
The steel backing plate is defined by modifying element boundary condition. The soil and tunnel
structures (reinforced and concrete) were modelled using the Mohr–Coulomb model and the elastic
model, respectively.
There exists a huge stiffness difference between working well, soil and segments. It will appear
large relative slip under the external load. This work adopted Goodman element to simulate relative
slip between different materials. Goodman elements satisfy the function 1 under determined
external load [8]. Three parameters containing normal stiffness kn , shear stiffness k s and rotational
stiffness kθ . Stiffness parameters can be calculated by function (1).

N  K N  ∆u 
    ∆v  (1)
Q  =  KS  
M   
  
 Kθ   ∆θ 
where N , Q and M are axial force, shear and bending moment without considering cracking,
respectively. ∆u , ∆v and ∆θ are respectively axial displacement, shear displacement and relative
angular displacement.

.
Figure 2: The general calculation model Figure 3: The model of the work well
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 784

Determination of calculation parameters

The jacking pressure acted on backing plate is 1000 tonf, which corresponds to 625 kPa
pressure acted on element surface of steel backing plate. The concrete of the working well is C30.
According to the geological survey report, the parameters of the soil are listed in Tables 1.
Table 1: Physico-mechanical parameters of soil
Consolidated quick shear Compressio Void
Geotechnical Poisson Density Compressi Thickness of
Cohesion Internal friction n modulus ratio
name ratio (g/cm3) bility (α) the soil (m)
(kPa) angle (°) (MPa) （e）
Artificial filled
0.33 1.97 5 8 4.7 0.8 0.4 1.5
Soil
Mud medium
0.26 2.01 3 30 7.4 0.71 0.22 3
fine sand
Clay 0.3 1.91 17 8 6.25 0.8 0.32 5.5
Fine clay 0.26 2.0 5 21 6.89 0.76 0.28 1.3
Silty clay 0.3 1.87 24 13 4.12 0.85 0.35 1.4
Strong
— 2.1 40 32 125 — — 1.3
weathered tuff
Slightly
— 2.7 — — 500 — — 16
weathered tuff
The elastic modulus can be converted by the compression coefficient shown in Table.1 [9].

1+ e  2ν 
=E 1 −  (2)
a  1− v 
where E is the elastic modulus of soil, a is the compression coefficient, e is the initial void
ratio, v is the Poisson ratio.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Rationality verification of the model

The position that Y is 29 m the position that X is 20 m

Figure 4: Diagram of comparison between measured values and calculated values

The comparison of vertical displacements of ground between calculated values and measured
values is shown in Fig.4. Numerical calculation results reflect actual tendency of ground
displacement and calculated values are consistent with measured values, so the calculation model
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 785

adopted in this work is reasonable. The ground displacements which are parallel to axis of pipe
jacking (Y= 29m) are all settlement because of the stress of soil occur redistribution during pipe
jacking construction, which causes ground loss and soil deformation. The both sides of pipe jacking
which is perpendicular to axis of pipe jacking (X= 20m) present asymmetric deformation, it show
that backing plate has borne the unbalanced forces during the pipe jacking construction. The
appropriate adjustment should be done to avoid excessive stress.

Analysis of the displacement

The vertical displacement of ground is shown in Fig.5, the red grid line (a) represents ground
before deformation, while the green and yellow line represents ground after occurring deformation.
The nephogram (b) represents vertical displacement of ground. As is shown in Fig.5 (a), ground
subsidence is the main part and the displacement distribution of ground approximately appears as
normal distribution curve of probability theory, which is similar to settling tank proposed by Peck
[10]. Red area in Fig.5 (b) represents ground uplift and the maximum value is 0.195 mm. The rest
of areas represent ground subsidence and the maximum value is 6.28 mm, which appears on the
edge of working well.

(a) The deformation of the surface (b) displacement nephogram of the surface
Figure 5: Vertical deformation of soil

In order to further analyze deformation law of soil during pipe jacking construction stage,
horizontal displacement of red line A and B shown in Fig.6 are analyzed to obtain the deformation
law of horizontal displacement along horizontal direction and vertical direction.

Figure 6: Positions (line A and B) of the extraction result

 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 786

Based on above calculation results, the horizontal displacement of line A and B are obtained
(Fig.7). Horizontal displacement of line A gradually increases from the ground surface to
downward and the maximum value is 4.54 mm appear at the rear of backing plate; horizontal
displacement presents linear attenuation with the increase of distance from backing plate, which
coincides with the conclusion in reference [2]. The horizontal displacement of line B appears as
quadratic parabola and its maximum value is 3.089 mm on the right side of backing plate, which
indicate that the backing plate has borne unbalanced jacking pressure and the displacement of soil
local increase.

Fitting curve
−2.2 x 2 + 0.03x + 1.58
y=

(a) The results of the line A (b) the results of the line B
Figure 7: Horizontal displacement of ground

Analysis of soil resistance and stability

The backing plate and working well present backward-deformation during pipe jacking
construction and structure deformation will inevitably cause soil resistance based on soil-structure
interaction theory. The soil resistance of line A and B (Fig.6) are shown in Fig.8 and Fig.9. As is
shown in figure 8(a), soil resistance of line A increases with the depth decrease of soil as well as the
maximum value and the minimum value of the soil resistance are 136.06 kPa and 3.81 kPa. The
resistance of line B appears as asymmetric distribution and soil resistance on left side is greater than
that on right side under unbalanced jacking pressure.

(a) The results of the line A (b) the results of the line B
Figure 8: The resistance of soil
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 787

According to reference [11], the analysis of soil stability can proceed as follows: soil will
break when the maximal soil resistance F exceeds soil capacity (passive soil pressure). In order to
consider the safety reserve, a certain safety coefficient should be considered. The rear part of soil
will be stable when R ≥ FK, Contrarily it is unstable. K is safety coefficient and its range is
1.2～1.6 normally.
The assumes of the Rankine earth pressure theory including (1) ground surface behind the wall
is horizontal, (2) the wall back is perpendicular to ground surface and (3) Wall back is smooth.
When retaining wall moves toward the direction that soil is squeezed, the stress acted on wallback
is passive soil pressure and the angle between rupture plane and horizontal plane is 45°- φ/2. The
state of soil next to the working well was mainly analyzed. The soil resistance of numerical
calculation and theoretical soil pressure is shown in Fig.12.

Figure 9: Relationship between earth counterforce and passive earth pressure

According to Fig.9, the distribution laws of passive soil pressure and soil resistance are the
same. The maximum passive soil pressure calculated by earth pressure theory is 255.46 kPa, which
is 1.877 times as the corresponding resistance. The minimum passive soil pressure is 6.78 kPa,
which is 1.78 times as the corresponding resistance. The average of passive soil pressure is 2.04
times the average of resistance. The ratio between passive soil pressure and soil resistance is more
than 1.6, so soil is stable and not failure.

Effect of jacking pressure on soil resistance

In order to analyze the effect of jacking pressure on soil resistance, the jacking pressure is
respectively set to be 250 tonf, 500tonf, 750 tonf, 1000 tonf, 1250 tonf and 1500 tonf, while other
parameters remains unchanged. Soil resistances under different jacking pressure are shown in
Fig.10. The soil resistance slightly increases with the increase of jacking pressure. The effect of
jack pressure on soil resistance is small because the jack pressures acted on backing plate can be
relatively uniform transferred to soil, while the influence is relatively significant on the edge of
backing plate (depth from -4m to -9m).
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 788

Figure 10: The resistance of soil under different jacking force

CONCLUSIONS
The three-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted to stimulate the pipe jacking
construction combined with a typical engineering and some conclusions are obtained as follows:
(1) The displacement distribution of ground approximately appears normal distribution curve
of probability theory, which is similar to peck settling tank. Horizontal displacement presents linear
attenuation with the increase of distance from backing plate. The vertical and horizontal
distributions of the horizontal displacement reveal the approximate linear and quadratic parabola. It
should do necessary local reinforcement according to the actual situation.
(2) The unbalanced force has been acted on backing plate, so it should adjust the jack pressure
not to cause the large local stress. The ratio between passive soil pressure and soil resistance is
more than standard, therefore the soil is stable and not break.
(3) The effect of jack pressure on soil resistance is slight because the jack pressures acted on
backing plate can be relatively uniform transferred to soil, while the influence is relatively
significant on the edge of backing plate.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science
(Grant 2012ZC27), Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 2009ZX07423-004) and
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant 2012ZM0089).

REFERENCES
1 WEI Gang(2006) “Theoretical study on behaviors of soil and structure during pipe jacking
construction,” Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, VOl. 25.
2. YAN Zhiguo, ZHU Hehua and LI Xiangyang(2012) “3D-FEM analysis on stability of shaft with
conduit jacked synchronously in two directions,” Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
VOl.33, No.1, pp204-208.
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. D 789

3. LI Fangnan, SHEN Shui and LUO Chunyon(2012) “Prediction approach of ground deformation
induced by pipe jacking construction considering grouting pressure,” Rock and Soil Mechanics,
VOl.33, No.1, pp204-208.
4. DING Wenqi, YUAN Sen1in and GAO Xiaoqing(2010) “Research on construction disturbance
characteristics caused by super large diameter pipe jacking in electric power tunnel,” Rock and
Soil Mechancis,VOl.31, No.9, pp2901-2906.
5. YANG Chunshan, WANG Weijun, ZHANG Xinjin and YAN Bo(2013) "Analysis on stress and
strain of shield tunnel lining structure with cracks," Chinese Journal of Underground Space and
Engineering, VOl.9, No.5, pp1070–1075.
6. YANG Chunshan, MO Haihong, CHEN Junsheng(2013) “Selection of reasonable scheme of
entering into a working well in shield construction,” Electronic Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering, VOl.18, pp3987-3998.
7. YANG Chunshan, MO Haihong, CHEN Junsheng and LI Wei(2014) “Study the influence on
segment opening of shield tunneling by tunnels followed by well excavation,” Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, VOl.33, No.1, pp2870-2877.
8. WEI Limin，XIANG Yuanhua, CHEN Guoyuan and HU Haijun(2009) "Analysis of
displacement and soil counterforce for working well of pipe jacking engineering," Rock and Soil
Mechanics, VOl.30, No.8, pp2397–2402.
9. Peck R B,Yeates. Tunneling in soils10th ICSMFE[J], Stockholm: 607-628.
10. WEI Gang, XU Riqing and HUANG Bin(2005) "Analysis of stability failure for pipeline during
long distance pipe jacking," Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, VOl.24m,
No.8, pp1427-1432.

© 2014 ejge