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The need to cross pipelines is a more frequent occurrence as less land is available for new roads, rail infrastructure, housing developments and industrial uses .  AFAA have undertaken numerous pipeline crossing assessments including for the HS2 project, housing developers, quarry operators and landfill operators.  We can support your crossing design with our extensive knowledge and experience of the pipeline-soil-interaction required for this type of assessment, along with a detailed knowledge of the specifications used by pipeline operators such as National Grid, Cadent, SGN and NGN.  We can also provide solutions to mitigate against cases where excessive stresses and deflections are predicted.  

Pipeline Crossing Assessments

For pipeline profiles not including bends or other stress raisers, AFAA can offer a cost effective solution by using formulae to determine the longitudinal response to external loads.

Where bends, tees and other components are present, we use a variety of commercially available FEA packages.

Longitudinal Response

graph related to longitudinal response
vehicle in the background with pipe in forefront

The actions on the ring include:

  • The vertical soil overburden loading.

  • The horizontal side-fill loading.

  • Soil support due to ring deflection.

  • Vertical live loading (from vehicles).

  • Bedding support reactions.

We use a variety of methods to calculate the ring response of the pipeline to the above loads, such as:

  • The ring statics methods in NEN 3650.

  • The methods in BS EN 1295 and BS 9295.

  • FE analysis software.

Ring Response

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