Physical Modeling of the Seismic Response of Gas Pipelines in Laterally Inhomogeneous Soil
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper reports on results from a series of 1-g, reduced-scale shake table tests of a 216-m-long portion of an onshore steel gas transmission pipeline embedded in horizontally layered soil. A set of first-order dynamic similitude laws was employed to scale system parameters appropriately. Two sands of different mean grain diameter and bulk density were used to assemble a compound symmetrical test soil consisting of three uniform blocks in a dense-loose-dense configuration. The sand-pipe interface friction coefficients were measured as 0.23 and 0.27. Modulated harmonics and recorded ground motions were applied as table excitation. To monitor the detailed longitudinal strain profiles in the model pipe, bare Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) cables were deployed. In most cases, the pipe response was predominantly axial while bending became significant at stronger excitations. Strain distributions displayed clear peaks at or near the block interfaces, in accord with numerical predictions, with magnitudes increasing at resonant frequencies and with excitation level. By extension to full scale, peak axial strain amounted to , a demand half the yield strain, but not negligible given the low in situ soil stiffness contrast and soil-pipe friction.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Items included are the raw experimental data, the signal processing scripts, and the finite-element models used for reproduction of the tests.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Commission through Grant No. MSCA-RISE-2015-691213-EXCHANGE-Risk. The first author also expresses his gratitude to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financially supporting his doctoral studies (Grant No.: EP/M507994/1). The invaluable assistance of all technical staff involved in the project is acknowledged, with special thanks to L. de Leeuw for carrying out the direct shear tests. Finally, the authors thank Dr. G. Tsinidis, Dr. D. Karamitros, Dr. T. Horseman, and Dr. N. Alexander for their contribution through critical discussions of this work.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 5 • May 2020
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©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 23, 2019
Accepted: Nov 18, 2019
Published online: Mar 14, 2020
Published in print: May 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Aug 14, 2020
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