Experimental and numerical modelling of buried pipelines crossing reverse faults

Abstract

Fault rupture is one of the main hazards for continuous buried pipelines and the problem is often investigated experimentally and numerically. While experimental data exists for pipeline crossing strike-slip and normal fault, limited experimental work is available for pipeline crossing reverse faults. This paper presents results from a series of tests investigating the behaviour of continuous buried pipeline subjected to reverse fault motion. A new experimental setup for physical modelling of pipeline crossing reverse fault is developed and described. Scaling laws and non-dimensional groups are derived and subsequently used to analyse the test results. Three-dimensional Finite Element (3D FE) analysis is also carried out using ABAQUS to investigate the pipeline response to reverse faults and to simulate the experiments. Finally, practical implications of the study are discussed.

A critical review on the vulnerability assessment of natural gas pipelines subjected to seismic wave propagation. Part 1: Fragility relations and implemented seismic intensity measures

“…An increasing seismic vulnerability of NG pipelines was actually reported on steel pipelines that were previously weakened by corrosion or poor quality welds (EERI, 1986;Gehl et al, 2014). Permanent ground deformations commonly induce a higher straining on the steel pipelines, compared to transient ground deformations; therefore, most research efforts have been mainly focused on this seismic hazard (Karamitros et al, 2007;Vazouras et al, 2010;Vazouras et al, 2012;Kouretzis et al, 2014;Vazouras et al, 2015;Vazouras et al, 2016;Karamitros et al, 2016;Melissianos et al, 2017aMelissianos et al, , 2017bMelissianos et al, , 2017cDemirci et al, 2018;Sarvanis et al, 2018,;Tsatsis et al 2018, among many others). However, statistically it is more likely for a pipeline to be subjected to transient ground deformations rather than seismically induced permanent ground deformations.…”

Mechanical Behavior of Buried Pipelines Subjected to Faults

“…e results showed that there was no significant difference between the responses of pipelines under the displacement of dynamic test and those under the static test. Demirci et al [5] conducted a series of experiments to analyze the behavior of continuous buried pipelines subjected to reverse fault motion and developed a novel experimental device for studying pipelines crossing reverse faults. Zhang et al [6] carried out a full-scale test to study the effect of soil settlement on the pipeline.…”

Optimal intensity measures for the structural assessment of buried steel natural gas pipelines due to seismically-induced axial compression at geotechnical discontinuities

“…Permanent ground deformations tend to induce higher straining on buried steel pipelines, compared to transient ground deformations. Hence, most researchers focused their investigations on this seismic hazard [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. However, it is more likely for a buried pipeline to be subjected to transient ground deformations rather than seismically-induced permanent ground deformations.…”