Research on the Influence of Soil Deformation on the Leakage and Diffusion of Buried Pipeline Natural Gas

Leakage, as a common failure mode of buried gas pipelines, causes soil deformation due to the impact of leaking gas, which in turn affects the leakage and diffusion processes of the gas. This study established an experimental platform for measuring soil deformation caused by leakage in buried gas pipelines. Based on the experimental measurement results, a leakage diffusion model of buried gas pipelines under soil deformation was established, and the influence of soil deformation on gas leakage diffusion was simulated and studied. The results indicate that there are significant differences in soil deformation zones corresponding to different pipeline pressures, leakage diameters, and soil types. Soil deformation has a significant impact on gas leakage and diffusion. Considering soil deformation, the first danger arrival time (FDT) for leakage has been reduced from 296 s to 55 s, and the ground danger range (GDR) has expanded from 0.862 m to 1.598 m. The average relative error of the GDR prediction model is 2.73%, indicating that the model has good accuracy and can provide data support for determining the leakage danger range of buried gas pipelines.