Evaluation of Ground Deformations to Assess the Impact on Underground Utilities Due to Embankment Construction

Interrogation of greenfield ground movements to assess impact on buried utility pipes, without explicitly analyzing them, is a common approach adopted by geotechnical engineers. The ground movements due to tunneling works have been notably studied in literature and empirical relationships to estimate the pipe strains based on greenfield ground movements have been proposed. These investigations show that transverse movements as well as the longitudinal movements contribute to the pipe strains. Even though the settlement profiles of a buried pipe due to a tunnel excavation and an embankment construction are similar in shape, the movement profile along the axial direction of a utility pipe is often contrasting for the two scenarios. Therefore, the greenfield ground movements should be accurately interpreted to fully understand the impact on pipes. This paper discusses the discrepancies and similarities in ground movement and hence the impact on utility pipes due to different type of transportation projects such as new road constructions, road widening, and road tunnels.