Dynamic response of buried gas pipeline under excavator loading: Experimental/numerical study

Recently, the ongoing mining risk and damage quantitative assessment methods for buried gas pipelines are mostly implemented on the static test data. Naturally, dynamic experimental results may help to enhance the fidelity of the evaluation strategy. The excavator-pipeline-soil test system in this paper is designed to detect the impact digging force, which is derived from the liquid pressure oscillation of hydro-cylinders and the inertial force of mining equipment. The dynamic loading coefficient and impact force under various mining modes are evaluated by experimental and multibody dynamics software, and the results are subsequently verified by comparison with a series of LS-DYNA modeling responses. It should be stressed that the obvious growth of dynamic digging force is as important as the critical resistant analysis to the buried gas pipeline. Thus, one can establish more confident judgments with regard to ground mining protection and damage assessment.