Analysis of pipe-soil interaction for a miniature pipejacking

In this study, physical and numerical models were used to analyze pipe-soil interaction during pipe-jacking work. After calibrating with the physical modeling results, the finite element software ABAQUS [1] was used to study the pipejacking related behavior, such as surface subsidence, failure mechanism, pipe-soil interaction, etc. The results show that the driving force in the tunnelling face is very important and critical for pipejacking. Surface subsidence is mainly due to the lack of driving force, however, excessive driving force could cause the unfavorable surface heaving problem. It also suggests that the depth of the pipe is critical to determine a proper driving force to stabilize the tunnelling face