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. Lets
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 stiffnesss 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