Investigating the influence of surrounding soil properties on leakage discharge from cracks in polyethylene pipes

Numerous factors affect the amount of leakage from pipes, e.g. inside pressure, type of pipe failure, soil around the pipe, etc. Few researches have been done on the effect of environment around the pipe on the leakage discharge. In the present study, the leakage from pipes in presence of different soils is experimentally investigated. Leakage from a cracked polyethylene pipe was simulated in the presence of various soils with different properties in a laboratory setup. Leakage- pressure relationships were obtained according to fixed and variable area discharge theory. By quantifying the soil characteristics, the relationship between leakage- pressure coefficients (m and Cd) and soil parameters was obtained. It was concluded that the soil environment affects the amount of leakage discharge. Results show that the particle diameter at 50% passing (D50), dry unit weight ( ) and hydraulic permeability coefficient (k) are more appropriate to represent the characteristics of soils. It was also concluded that there are no strong correlation between leakage and some soil parameters. The obtained relationships between different soil parameters and leakage discharge coefficients are also presented.