Session: SE-06-01 The T.H. Liu Memorial Symposium on the Seismic Analysis and Design of Piping Systems-1

Paper Number: 122980

122980 - Laboratory Testing of Buried Pipelines Subjected to Ground Displacement Due to Seismic Motion 

Ground displacement is considered the major natural hazard in causing damage on pipelines. Although the most effective method to reduce the pipeline damage is routing the pipelines away from the ground movement potential areas, the pipelines in Taiwan are unavoidably to pass through faults, soil liquefaction potential areas, and sensitive areas of landslides, given that there are 33 active faults crossing the island. Currently available researches show that quasi-static testing is utilized to study the pipeline behavior under fault displacement. This paper presents laboratory testing design and results of buried pipelines subjected to ground displacement due to seismic motion. Pipelines are buried in a uniaxial shear box which is designed to introduce fault displacement caused by seismic motion. Different pipeline diameters are tested for comparison to study the diameter effect of pipelines. Protection measure such as different backfill material and various burial depths are also tested in order to possibly offer suggestions on pipeline damage mitigation methods. Dynamic behavior of the pipelines is presented by the measurements collected by the strain gauges and accelerometers located on the pipelines. This study provides valuable information on dynamic behavior of buried pipelines subjected to ground displacement due to seismic motion, which can enhance the design of the pipeline systems on seismic damage mitigation.

Presenting Author: Che-Yu Chang National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering

Presenting Author Biography: Che-Yu Chang is an Assistant Research Fellow at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), Taipei, Taiwan. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Harbor and River Engineering from the National Taiwan Ocean University in 2002 and 2004, respectively, M.S. in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006, and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland-College Park in 2012. Her research interests include finite element analysis, soil-structure interaction, fault displacement effect and reliability of pipeline systems.

Authors:

Che-Yu Chang National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering
Hsuan-Chih Yang National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering
Wei-Kuang Chang National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering