Fuzzy-Based Robustness Assessment of Buried Pipelines
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 9, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper presents a fuzzy-based robustness measure and assessment of a buried pipeline for periods of 4, 8, 12, and 16 years. The adverse effects of corrosion on the performance of a buried steel pipeline are investigated based on the failure modes: deflection, wall thrust, buckling pressure, and bending strain. Other corrosion-induced failure modes such as blowout, splitting, and joint pullout are not considered in this paper but the proposed methodology can be used to assess any type of corrosion-related failures for steel, cast iron, and ductile iron pipes. To account for the amount and the damage of infrastructure due to corrosion is strenuous because of a lack of information and imprecise information associated with the corrosion process. Therefore, corrosion is considered as a fuzzy variable in the analyses so as to account for the intuitive feature of the corrosion-induced failure modes of buried pipelines. In this study, fuzzy-based entropy robustness is used, and it refers to a dimensionless measure that takes into account the uncertainty of the failure induced on buried pipes due to imprecise corrosion and associated uncertainty in structural response. The proposed approach gains its usefulness in the assessment by examining the robustness behavior of the structure at every membership level on different levels of imprecision. The effectiveness of the fuzzy entropy–based robustness measure on a buried pipeline has been demonstrated in this study. The outcome shows that the use of alpha-level discretization in the assessment of buried steel pipe based on fuzzy set and an entropy-based robustness measure approach would yield reliable results with an enhanced understanding of the impact of uncertainties and variabilities associated with pipe failure.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ahammed, M., and Melchers, R. E. (1994). “Reliability of pipelines subject to corrosion.” J. Transp. Eng., 989–1002.
Alani, A. M., Faramarzi, A., Mahmoodian, M., and Tee, K. F. (2014). “Prediction of sulphide build-up in filled sewer pipes.” Environ. Technol., 35(14), 1721–1728.
American Lifelines Alliance. (2001). “Guidelines for the design of buried steel pipe.” ASCE, Reston, VA.
Beer, M., and Liebscher, M. (2008). “Designing robust structures—A nonlinear simulation based approach.” Comput. Struct., 86(10), 1102–1122.
Beer, M., Zhang, Y., Quek, S. T., and Phoon, K. K. (2013). “Reliability analysis with scarce information: Comparing alternative approaches in a geotechnical engineering context.” Struct. Saf., 41, 1–10.
Biondini, F., Frangopol, D. M., and Restelli, S. (2008). “On structural robustness, redundancy and static indeterminacy.” Structures Congress 2008, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Bothe, H. H. (1993). Fuzzy logic, Springer, New York.
BSI (British Standards Institution). (2010). “Structural design of buried pipelines under various conditions of loading: General requirements.” BS EN 1295-1:1997, London.
Dubios, D., and Prade, H. (1980). Fuzzy sets and systems: Theory and applications, Academic, New York.
Ebenuwa, A. U., and Tee, K. F. (2017a). “Reliability analysis of buried pipes with corrosion and seismic impact.” Proc., Sixth Int. Symp. on Geotechnical Safety and Risk (Geo-Risk), ASCE, Reston, VA.
Ebenuwa, A. U., and Tee, K. F. (2017b). “Reliability assessment of buried pipelines for through-wall bending stress.” 14th Int. Probabilistic Workshop 2017, Springer, New York, 377–387.
Ebenuwa, A. U., Tee, K. F., and Zhang, Y. (2016). “Structural robustness assessment of corroded buried pipes.” WIT transactions on the built environment, Vol. 166, WIT Press, Southampton, U.K., 81–92.
Fang, Y., Chen, J., and Tee, K. F. (2013). “Analysis of structural dynamic reliability based on the probability density evolution method.” Struct. Eng. Mech., 45(2), 201–209.
Fang, Y., Wen, L., and Tee, K. F. (2014). “Reliability analysis of repairable k-out-n system from time response under several times stochastic shocks.” Smart Struct. Syst., 14(4), 559–567.
Fang, Y., Xiong, J., and Tee, K. F. (2015). “Time-variant structural fuzzy reliability analysis under stochastic loads applied several times.” Struct. Eng. Mech., 55(3), 525–534.
Frangopol, D. M., and Curley, J. P. (1987). “Effects of damage and redundancy on structural reliability.” J. Struct. Eng., 113(7), 1533–1549.
Gabriel, L. H. (2011). Corrugated polyethylene pipe design manual and installation guide, Plastic Pipe Institute, Irving, TX.
Hanss, M., and Turrin, S. (2010). “A fuzzy-based approach to comprehensive modelling and analysis of systems with epistemic uncertainties.” Struct. Saf., 32(6), 433–441.
Kang, J., Parker, F., and Yoo, C. H. (2008). “Soil-structure interaction for deeply buried corrugated steel pipes. I: Embankment installation.” Eng. Struct., 30(2), 384–392.
Ke, H., and Ma, J. (2014). “Modeling project time-cost trade-off in fuzzy random environment.” Appl. Soft Comput., 19, 80–85.
Khan, L. R., and Tee, K. F. (2015). “Quantification and comparison of carbon emissions for flexible underground pipelines.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 42(10), 728–736.
Khan, L. R., Tee, K. F., and Alani, A. M. (2013). “Reliability-based management of underground pipeline network using genetic algorithm.” Proc., 11th Int. Probabilistic Workshop, Ing. Vladislav Pokorny—LITERA, Brno, Czech Republic, 159–171.
Melchers, R. E. (2003). “Probabilistic models for corrosion in structural reliability assessment. I: Empirical models.” J. Offshore Mech. Arctic Eng., 125(4), 264–271.
Melchers, R. E. (2006). “Recent progress in the modeling of corrosion of structural steel immersed in seawaters.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 154–162.
Mohr, W. (2003). Strain based design of pipelines, ASME, New York.
Moller, B., and Beer, M. (2004). Fuzzy randomness: Uncertainty in civil engineering and computational mechanics, Springer, New York.
Moller, B., and Beer, M. (2008). “Engineering computation under uncertainty—Capabilities of non-traditional models.” Comput. Struct., 86(10), 1024–1041.
Moller, B., Graf, W., and Beer, M. (2003). “Safety assessment of structures in view of fuzzy randomness.” Comput. Struct., 81(15), 1567–1582.
Moser, A. P. (1990). Buried pipe design, McGraw-Hill, New York.
O’Rourke, M. J., and Liu, X. (1999). Response of buried pipelines subject to earthquake effects, State Univ. of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.
Rajabipour, A., and Melchers, R. E. (2013). “A numerical study of damage caused by combined pitting corrosion and axial stress in steel pipes.” Corros. Sci., 76, 292–301.
Ross, T. J. (2004). Fuzzy logic with engineering applications, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Sadiq, R., Rajani, B., and Kleiner, Y. (2004). “Probabilistic risk analysis of corrosion associated failures in cast iron water mains.” Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf., 86(1), 1–10.
Sivakumar Babu, G. L., and Srivastava, A. (2010). “Reliability analysis of buried flexible pipe-soil systems.” J. Pipeline Syst. Eng. Pract., 33–41.
Starossek, U., and Haberland, M. (2011). “Approaches to measures of structural robustness.” Struct. Infrastruct. Eng., 7(7–8), 625–631.
Tee, K. F., and Khan, L. R. (2014). “Reliability analysis of underground pipelines with correlation between failure modes and random variables.” J. Risk Reliab. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., 228(4), 362–370.
Tee, K. F., Khan, L. R., and Chen, H. P. (2013). “Probabilistic failure analysis of underground flexible pipes.” Struct. Eng. Mech., 47(2), 167–183.
Tee, K. F., Khan, L. R., Chen, H. P., and Alani, A. M. (2014a). “Reliability based life cycle cost optimization for underground pipeline networks.” Tunnelling Underground Space Technol., 43, 32–40.
Tee, K. F., Khan, L. R., and Coolen-Maturi, T. (2015). “Application of receiver operating characteristic curve for pipeline reliability analysis.” J. Risk Reliab. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., 229(3), 181–192.
Tee, K. F., Khan, L. R., and Li, H. (2014c). “Application of subset simulation in reliability estimation of underground pipelines.” Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf, 130, 125–131.
Watkins, R. K., and Anderson, L. R. (2000). Structural mechanics of buried pipes, CRC Press, Washington, DC.
Zadeh, L. A. (1965). “Fuzzy sets.” Inf. Control, 8(3), 338–353.
Zhang, M., Beer, M., Koh, C. G., and Jensen, H. (2015). “Nuanced robustness analysis with limited information.” ASCE-ASME J. Risk Uncertainty Eng. Syst., Part A: Civ. Eng., B4015001.
Zhang, Y. (2015). “Comparing the robustness of offshore structures with marine deteriorations: A fuzzy approach.” Adv. Struct. Eng., 18(8), 1159–1171.
Zhang, Y., and Cao, Y. (2015). “A fuzzy quantification approach of uncertainties in an extreme wave height modeling.” Acta Oceanologica Sin., 34(3), 90–98.
Zhang, Y., Kim, C. W., and Tee, K. F. (2017a). “Maintenance management of offshore structures using Markov process model with random transition probabilities.” Struct. Infrastruct. Eng., 13(8), 1068–1080.
Zhang, Y., Kim, C. W., Tee, K. F., and Lam, J. S. L. (2017b). “Optimal sustainable life cycle maintenance strategies for port infrastructures.” J. Cleaner Prod., 142(4), 1693–1709.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 28, 2016
Accepted: Jul 25, 2017
Published online: Dec 6, 2017
Published in print: Feb 1, 2018
Discussion open until: May 6, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.