INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF USING SOIL BENTONITE WALL ON DAMAGE MITIGATION OF STEEL BURIED PIPELINES SUBJECTED TO REVERSE FAULT RUPTURE

Abstract eng:
As pipelines pass from large geographical regions, their passage through areas with active faults in seismic regions might be inevitable. On the other hand, map of active faults is faced with many uncertainties and it is not possible to estimate the precise place of fault, angle of fault and the fault line. Thus, as lifelines, pipelines are vulnerable to great dangers during an earthquake and resulting permanent ground deformations known as PGD. The previous earthquakes such as Chi-Chi (1999) and Wenchuan (2008) showed a wide ranges of damages caused to various structures subjected to reverse fault rupture. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of using soft deformable wall (in order to diverting rupture path and absorbing the tectonic deformation) in the response of buried pipelines subjected to reverse fault rupture considering two cases: a) pipeline parallel to fault line b) pipeline perpendicular to fault line. In this method, a thick diaphragm-type soil bentonite wall (SBW) is used in the fault diversion path in order to absorb the fault movements. Three-dimensional finite element model including steel buried pipe in dense sand subjected to reverse fault rupture is considered. The results indicate that using soil bentonite wall can remarkably mitigate the damages caused to pipeline in parallel case. In perpendicular case, the location of damages on buried pipeline is confined in a small area around the SBW which is of great importance in quick discovery of pipeline’s damaged section location in order to quick repair and return of pipeline to service.

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