Buckling stability analysis of corrugated pipes buried in an elastic medium

Corrugated pipes offer advantages in construction projects, including lightweight, low cost, and strong adaptability, making them widely used in pipeline and culvert applications. However, buckling instability may occur when corrugated pipes are deeply buried. Up to now, few studies have investigated the buckling stability of corrugated pipes buried in an elastic medium. In this study, an equivalent stiffness model for corrugated pipes is developed. Based on the shell equilibrium equations and the mechanical equations of the elastic medium, buckling load expressions under different contact interface conditions are derived and nondimensionalized. Then the reliability of the buckling load expressions is verified through three-dimensional numerical simulations of the stability of deeply buried corrugated pipes. Thereafter, the effects of geometric and material parameters on the buckling behavior of corrugated pipes are analyzed. It is observed that appropriately increasing the thickness of the corrugated pipe, the radius of curvature at the crest/trough, the length of the straight segment, the elastic modulus, the Poisson’s ratio, and the central angle of the semicircular crest/trough significantly enhances structural stability. Additionally, comparisons of critical buckling loads under bonded and smooth interface conditions reveal that bonded interfaces exhibit relatively higher critical buckling loads, offering valuable insights for engineering design.