I have experienced very heavy loads at the end of a buried piping connected to a concrete wall/tank in the order of 100 Tonnes. This is the Load case where piping is installed in summer 45 deg C and the operating temperature is 11 deg C in winter.

I have seen a proposal in an earlier post to sleeve this type of piping. The pipe is GRP and the diameter is 2500mm. We have tried few expansion loops. They do not seem to reduce the loads effectively. In order to reduce the load at the concrete wall, there is also a proposal to Rubber sleeve the piping as well. A 40 mm thick (2 m long) rubber sleeve is already in our standards just behind the concrete wall section. The prposal is to extend this by another 10 meters towards a 90 degres bend and again follow up to another 5 to 10 meters towards another bend. The rubber sleeve is coverd with gravel & compacted sand. Our idea is to get the expansion taking place against the direction of the wall. Can this be modeleled in Caesar in the Soil modeller.

Are there other practical solutions.

I appreciate Caesar experts and stres analysts giving some ideasa on this matter.

Thanks and regards

Hello Rienzie,
I wish that the experts will see your post because I am no expert.
Since your dealing with GRP, Caesar II should be a good starting point according to a related post I read during those days on this forum.
Check your elastic modulus, this should be given by the GRP vendor, the same with all other physical and mechanical properties.
Allow the pipe to expand/contract laterally, enough to reduce the loads by installing soft fill materials (e.g. vermiculite, calcium silicate chunks) on both sides of the pipe bend. I used the Caesar II underground modeler in this process to at least have an idea of what might happen. Since I dont have the exact stiffnesses of the soft materials that I mentioned, I reduced the stiffnesses of the soil around the pipe instead as a conservative approach.
Also, if possible, install your piping at a tie-in temperature nearest your operating temperature. Check the most probable months by which your piping will be installed.
In the end, consult with the GRP vendor and let the experts check your design. :-)