Protection of buried pipeline using geosynthetics – a review.

The importance of the buried pipelines lies in two main topics: the first is related to the very long length of these pipes, and therefore protecting them is expensive. The second topic is related to environmental pollution due to leaching, which is considered one of the main pollutants of groundwater. The research reviews the effects of geosynthetic reinforcement and its effect on buried pipelines subjected to different loading conditions to reduce the stresses on them and thus prevent leakage. The loads covered in this literature are the following: static load, dynamic load, permanent ground deformation, accidental damage, uplift pressure, explosion, lateral loading, and abrasive shear loading. The research focused on the use of synthetic ground reinforcements to protect these pipes. Available experimental and numerical investigations indicate the potential of using geosynthetics to reduce the effects of external loads on buried pipelines. The investigated studies proved that the protection of buried pipes with different types of geosynthetics is a successful method and decreased the stresses transformed to buried pipes. Most of the studies (45%) dealt with buried pipes subjected to static loading. The conventional geosynthetic material used in the protection of buried pipes is geogrid (38%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]