COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSE OF BURIED STEEL PIPELINES DUE TO SUDDEN GROUND MOTION

1 online resource (68 pages) : PDF

2015

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Pipeline systems are the primary means by which natural gas and liquid fuels are distributed to delivery points from pumping and compressor stations. Many of these pipelines are buried underground and consequently are susceptible to sudden ground motions resulting from seismic events such as earthquakes and landslides. Damage sustained by the pipelines during such events, if severe, can lead to disruptions in the fuel supplies and significant economic losses.The objective of this numerical study is to model and analyze the response of a buried pipeline in a strike-slip fault movement. Considering large deformations in the pipeline, a completely nonlinear finite element analysis is carried out using ABAQUS/Explicit. During any ground motion, the pipelines may be subject to one or all of axial, bending and shear-type of loads. These loads can lead to large compressive stresses which, in turn, can lead to local and/or global buckling failure. In the present work, the interaction of the pipeline with the surrounding soil due to sudden ground movement is studied by taking into account the contact between the pipeline and the soil, the nonlinear response of soil, the nonlinear material material response and geometric nonlinearities. The onset of buckling mode failure in the pipeline is studied as different parameters are varied. Specifically, the pipe diameter-to-thickness ratio, the internal pressure, the fault displacement and fault offset rates are varied to better understand the pipeline response due to seismic loads. Based on these studies, conclusions are drawn concerning the allowable internal pressures and diameter-to-thickness ratios for the fault displacements and fault-offset rates that this work and the previously published literature considered.

masters theses

Mechanical engineering

M.S.

Buried Pipe
Earthquake
Fault Movement
Fea
Gas Pipeline
Pipe Failure

Mechanical Engineering

Cherukuri, Harish

Smelser, Ronald
Ogunro, Vincent

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2015.

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Gawande_uncc_0694N_10869

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:146