In the cold regions of northern China, incidents of municipal underground gas pipeline rupture and leakage occur quite frequently, most often in winter. To prevent harm to citizen safety and property, analysis of the causes of such cracking and leakage is therefore valuable. Two incident analyses are discussed here and the reasons why most of these types of cases occur during winter are clarified. The effects of vehicle loadings above buried pipelines are calculated and compared with the effects and calculations of frost heaving forces. We demonstrate that when the soil layer above a pipeline freezes rapidly, the soil generates repeated frost heaving, which exerts heaving forces on the pipeline that can result in fatigue crack propagation and ultimate pipeline failure. Therefore, the incident induced by frost heaving is one of the primary reasons of gas pipeline failure. Based on these analyses, we present some recommendations pertaining to the proper design, construction, and management of gas pipelines.
