Response of buried oil and gas pipelines subjected to reverse faulting: A novel centrifuge-finite element approach

Buried pipelines, transporting fuels, inevitably face active faults when they pass through various seismic regions. These faults may damage the pipelines severely; hence numerous analytical, physical and numerical studies have been conducted with their own pros and cons to investigate the pipeline response due to the faulting. In the present study, an innovative combination of centrifuge and numerical modeling methods has been employed to overcome the geometrical limitation of the small scale physical modeling. Then, it is applied for investigation of buried pipelines response due to reverse faulting. Initially, two centrifuge tests with the fixed end pipelines have been conducted and employed as the benchmarks for the verification of a numerical model. Then, the calibrated numerical model has been used to develop the novel pipeline spring-like end connection system which is supposed to represent the response of the omitted pipeline parts. Eventually, a centrifuge test was conducted, employing the novel end connection system which verified the proper performance of the system. Then, the model is employed for investigation of buried pipelines response due to reverse faulting and the results are also presented.