Condition Assessment of Sewer Pipes by means of Finite Element Modelling

Condition based asset management of sewer systems lacks the availability of an accurate model to calculate the ultimate load bearing capacity of old sewer pipes. An advanced FEM model will be developed taking into account full soil-pipe interaction as well as the nonlinear behaviour of a sewer due to localised cracking. The model will be verified and calibrated extensively by means of large scale loading tests on old and new sewer pipes, and loading tests in a geo-centrifuge on fully embedded sewer pipe systems.