Numerical Investigation on the Deformational Behavior of Continuous Buried Pipelines Under Reverse Faulting

Abstract

Steel pipelines are vulnerable to the movements of active faults. Few studies focused on reverse faults. The deformational behavior of buried steel pipelines crossing an active reverse fault is investigated in this paper by applying 3D continuum finite element modeling. Numerical simulations indicate that local buckling (or wrinkling) mode of failure is more sensitive to the pipeline rather than tensile failure mode. The results were also confirmed by the experiment. Based on parametric studies, the pipeline capacity against failure can be significantly improved by reducing the burial depth and the pipe thickness ratio. Besides, the soil consistency around the pipe has a great effect on the behavior of buried pipelines. Furthermore, it is found out that the failed pipeline sections would be generated in longer distance from the fault plane as the soil behaves more softly or the pipeline is more flexible. These findings can lead the designers to have a safer and economic design of pipelines crossing reverse faulting zones.