Analysis of the mechanical characteristics and plasticity-hazardous zones development of natural gas pipeline under overload

•Consider the failure process of pipelines under overload.•Perform dimensionless processing of regional feature parameters.•Compare the critical mechanical features of plasticity-hazardous zones.•Clarify the mechanisms by which failure criteria affect hazardous zones.•Identify risk zones for compressive deformation of pipelines. The problem of natural gas pipeline overload failure is of great significance, and the development law of critical mechanical properties of pipelines is of great importance to the safety design of natural gas pipelines. This study establishes a three-dimensional finite element computational model of the pipeline that integrates the changes in axial and circumferential mechanical characteristics, and uses the yield strength, safety factor and ellipticity indexes as criteria to dimensionless the axial depth and circumferential angle of the plastic zone to explore the characteristics of the plastic damage stage of the pipeline. By solving the plastic hazardous zones based on the safety factor, the applicability of the dimensionless parameters is extended to investigate the development laws of the hazardous zones and the correlation mechanism between failure criteria and hazardous zones. The results show that as the ground load increases, the pipeline deformation gradually develops into the plastic stage (P = 16 MPa) and then goes through three deformation stages. With the increase of safety factor, the change trend of the proportion of stage I in the whole loading process decreases to 4 %, the change trend of the proportion of stage III increases significantly to 52 %, while the proportion of stage II shows a change trend of decreasing and then increasing, the proportion of this stage ranges from 30 % to 38 %. Based on the law of variation of axial ellipticity of pipeline section, a high-risk section of pipeline was identified in the range of 0–2 m from the point of maximum local compression strain. The results of the study can serve as a basis for accurate evaluation of the safety status of natural gas pipelines under overload.