Vulnerability Assessment of Buried Pipelines: A Case Study

Abstract

The pipeline systems are commonly used to transport water, sewage, oil, natural gas and other materials world over. These pipelines run over long distances and in some instances they cross high seismic areas including fault crossings. Many buried pipelines in India run through high seismic areas and are exposed to considerable seismic risk. These pipelines should be designed in such a way that they remain functional even when they are subjected to high intensity earthquake shaking. This paper illustrates the performance of one of the high pressure gas pipeline in the state of Gujarat, under the fault movement. Analysis shows that the burial depth of pipeline should be minimized in the fault zones in order to reduce soil restrain on the pipeline during fault movement.