Analysis of Buried Lifeline under Seismic Wave Propagation Using Ground Strain Concept

In this study, a modified ground strain model is developed to apply an equivalent earthquake load for the seismic analysis of buried pipelines. The ground strain can be obtained using the ratio of maximum ground velocity to wave propagation velocity. To reflect soil conditions and seismic characteristics, the wave propagation velocity is evaluated by a proposed dispersion curve based on wave energy distribution. In order to verify the developed ground strain model, the results of this study are compared with the observed ground strains of earthquake data. The results of the analyses are compared with those of a dynamic analysis and a response displacement method. Finally various parametric studies considering different properties of pipelines are performed.