A study of jacking force for a curved pipejacking

For a pipejacking, the jacking force is critical to balance the resistance force and to move the pipe string forwards. The driving mechanism of a curved pipejacking is more complicated than a straight-line pipejacking, and its jacking force is also more difficult to be determined. The paper theoretically studies the jacking force of a curved pipejacking by considering the static equilibrium of earth pressure, resistance at cutting face, friction at pipe surface, and the driving force behind the pipe string. The derived theoretical formula can be used to estimate the driving forces of a straight-line or a curved pipejacking. Case study was performed by applying the theoretical and empirical formulae. After calibration, the corrected formula is more accurate and more applicable.