Abstract:
In a congested city or urban area, so called “ lifeline of the city” , i.e. Gas, Electricity, telecommunication, as well as other utilities or facilities are supplied or transported underground through buried pipes or utility tunnel. Sometimes these buried pipes or utility tunnels are deep underground and interfere with the pile foundation of new structure. It is highly probable that a pile foundation is placed near an existing buried pipe or utility tunnel and may influence its load carrying capacity. Owing to uncertainty in estimation of geotechnical parameters of foundation soil due measurement and testing errors, inherent soil variability and model transformation, load carrying capacity is best assessed in probabilistic framework or through reliability analysis.
The present study demonstrates the use of response surface method (RSM) concepts in conjunction with Numerical Analysis and First Order Second Moment method (FOSM) to perform the reliability analysis of reduction in the load carrying capacity of single pile placed near to existing buried pipe or utility tunnel. It is demonstrated that the approach provides first hand information on the reduction in the load carrying capacity in terms of an index called Reliability Index (b) that can be useful for further detailed analysis as well as in the decision making for relocation of pile foundation.
Keywords: Reliability analysis, Buried pipe, Numerical Analysis, Response Surface Method,
Abstract: Theme 6