Prototypical experiment and numerical simulation of ground vibration resulting from explosion in shallowly buried gas pipelines

In this paper, we investigated the ground vibration effect caused by high pressure gas pipeline explosion using field experiment and numerical simulation. We found out about the magnitude range and attenuation mechanism of the ground vibration of high-pressure gas pipelines by conducting a full-scale explosion experiment of natural gas pipelines. According to the data analysis, the ground vibration caused by the explosion of the buried natural gas pipeline mainly occurred in the physical explosion process, and the subsequent natural gas deflagration process did not produce obvious ground vibration. Based on the LS-Dyna software, we established a high-pressure gas pipeline blasting experiment model, verified the rationality of the model parameter design by comparing the experimental results with the simulation results, and analyzed the process of the gas-pipe-wall-soil interaction, stress distribution and crack propagation in the pipeline explosion. We found that the pipe cracking was caused by the high-pressure gas pushing the pipe wall to the sides to form a stress concentration at the crack tip, that the pipe wall squeezed the soil at a peak speed of 50 m/s, and that the plastic state generated by the impact gradually attenuated to the elastic stress wave, forming the ground vibration effect. We also revealed the main causes of ground vibration by pipeline explosion. Our study can provide theoretical reference and technical support for the prevention of vibration-related accidents.