Assessment of Axial Pullout Force for Buried Medium-Density Polyethylene Pipelines

The maximum axial force on a pipeline subjected to axial ground movement is commonly calculated using a design equation developed without proper consideration of soil-pipe interaction. The authors’ recent work revealed that soil-pipe interaction significantly contributes to the axial pullout load, particularly for flexible pipes. In this study, a three-dimensional finite element (FE) analysis is used to explore the pullout mechanism of a buried...