Pipelines surcharge by seasonally frozen soils
Abstract
The failure of urban pipelines in seasonally frozen soils has become a major problem. Several investigations showed that a greater number of failures occurs during the freezing season. This paper explains this phenomenon by the following concept. During a cold snap, water is expelled from an advancing freezing front. The excess amount of water increases the pore water pressure which reduces the soil’s shear strength and modulus causing additional surcharge on the pipeline. Due to the longitudinal variations in the soil-pipe properties, the surcharge causes bending stresses which may break the overstressed pipe segments.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures
Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Mechanics
Geotechnical Engineering and Analysis
Publication details
- Journal / source
- CRC Press eBooks
- Pages
- 291–296
- Publication date
- 12 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter