A Numerical Investigation of Buried Steel Pipelines under Passive Near-Field Blast Loading

Abstract

A coupled explosive–air–soil–pipeline model was developed in ABAQUS using the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach to investigate the response of buried steel pipelines under passive near-field blast loading. The effects of pipe diameter, wall thickness, standoff distance, explosive charge, and pipeline burial depth were evaluated in terms of stress, maximum equivalent plastic strain, and displacement. Within the investigated ranges, the standoff distance and explosive charge produced pronounced response variations. Increasing the standoff distance from 0.3 to 0.9 m reduced the peak stress by approximately 74%–84%, whereas increasing the explosive charge from 0.2 to 0.8 kg increased it by approximately 35%–45%. Increasing wall thickness reduced the overall response, while the effect of pipe diameter became limited in the medium-to-large diameter range. Increasing pipeline burial depth also reduced the response, although this reflected the combined effect of increased pipeline burial depth and charge-to-pipeline distance. The results provide a reference for the blast-resistant design and risk assessment of buried steel pipelines.