Underground Piping Stress Analysis Procedure using

Caesar II
July 10, 2018 4 Comments
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Refer my earlier article on buried piping to get preliminary theoretical knowledge on stress analysis of
underground piping. Click here to visit that article. In this article I will explain the steps followed for
modelling and analysis the pipes in Caesar II. Inputs Required: Like all other systems you need to model
the piping system in Caesar II initially following the same conventional method. So you need the following
inputs:

 Piping isometrics or GA drawings with dimensions.

 Pipe parameters like temperature, pressure, material, diameter, thickness, corrosion allowance,
fluid density etc.
 Additionally you need the following soil parameters from civil department (geo-technology
department) for creation of soil model.

o Friction Co-efficient o Soil Density o Buried depth to Top of Pipe and o Friction Angle

 Equipment/Valve GA drawings as per application.

Modelling of the system:

 Model the piping system from isometrics/GA drawings using the pipe parameters.
 Normally some part of the system will be above ground and some part will be buried. Let’s take
an example of a typical system for easy understanding. Refer Fig 1. The stress system consists
of 24 inch CS pipe connected to tank. The parts inside the rectangle are above ground and
remaining parts are underground.
 Create a distinct node at all the junction points of underground and above ground piping.
 After you complete your model, save it, close and then enter the buried model by clicking the
Underground Pipe modeler button as shown in Fig.2.
 Fig.1: Typical Caesar II system for underground piping analysis

Fig.2: Opening the underground pipe modeler.

 Once you click on the underground pipe modeler the following screen (Fig. 3) will open. You will
find all your input node numbers listed there.
 Fig.3: Underground Soil modeler input screen

 Now your task is to create the soil model and input data received from civil. On clicking Soil
Models button (Highlighted in Fig.3) you will get the window where you have to enter the data.
You have two options to select as soil model type, Americal Lifelines alliance and caesar II Basic
Model. We will use Caesar II basic model for this article. So select Caesar II Basic model. The
modeler uses the values that you define to compute axial, lateral, upward, and downward
stiffnesses, along with ultimate loads. Each set of soil properties is identified by a unique soil
model number, starting with the number 2. The soil model number is used in the buried element
descriptions to tell CAESAR II in what type of soil the pipe is buried. You can enter up to 15
different soil model numbers in any one buried pipe job. Input the parameters as shown in Fig. 4.
If you require to add more soil models simply click on add new soil model. Overburden
compaction factor, Yield displacement factor and thermal expansion co-efficient will automatically
be filled by default. You need to input all other fields. However, defining a value for
TEMPERATURE CHANGE is optional. If entered the thermal strain is used to compute the
theoretical “virtual anchor length”. Leave undrained sheer strength field blank. After all data has
been entered click on ok button.
 Fig.4: Caesar II Basic Soil Model

 Now inform Caesar II about the underground and above ground parts by selecting the nodes and
defining proper soil model number. If you enter 0 as soil model number, the element is not
buried. If you enter 1, then specify the buried soil stiffness’s per length basis in column 6 through
13. (preferable do not use 1). If you enter a number greater than 1, the software points to a
CAESAR II soil restraint model generated using the equations outlined in Soil Models of Caesar
II. Refer Fig. 5 for example. After all aboveground and underground parts along with proper soil
model number are defined click on convert button and Caesar II will create the underground
model.
 Fig.5: Buried Model Input Spreadsheet in Caesar II

 When underground model conversion is over you will get the buried model. By default, Caesar II
appends the name of the job with the letter B. For example, if the original job is named System1,
the software saves the second input file with the name System1B. If the default name is not
appropriate, you can rename the buried job.
 In the buried part Caesar II models bi-linear restraints with stiffness values which the software
calculates while conversion into buried model. Refer Fig.6 to check the buried model of the
system shown in Fig.1. These stiffness values depend on the distance between the nodes.
 Now open the file (original file appended by B) and perform static analysis in the same
conventional way and qualify the system from code requirements.
 Fig.6: Buried model of the system shown in Fig.1
Few Important points to keep in mind:

 Typical values of friction angle are as follows:

o Clay – 0 o Silt – 26-25 o Sand – 27-45

 Typical friction coefficient values are:

o Silt – 0.4 o Sand – 0.5 o Gravel – 0.6 o Clay – 0.6

 The default value of overburden compaction multiplier is 8. However this number can be reduced
depending on the degree of compaction of the backfill. Backfill efficiency can be approximated
using the proctor number, defined in most soils text books. Standard practice is to multiple the
proctor number by 8 and use the result as the compaction multiplier.
 After entering data in soil model when you click ok, the Caesar II software saves the soil data in a
file with the extension SOI.
 During the process of creating the buried model, the modeler removes any restraints in the buried
section. Any additional restraints in the buried section can be entered in the resulting buried
model. The buried job, if it exists, is overwritten by the successful generation of a buried pipe
model. It is the buried job that is eventually run to compute displacements and stresses.
 Caesar II removes the density from the buried part model while converting into buried model.