Study on Mechanical Behaviors of Buried Pipelines Subjected to Three-Dimensional Earthquake Input Motions

It is often necessary to study on the mechanic behaviors of the buried pipelines subjected to seismic excitation, because the ground motion will inevitably endanger the nearby underground pipelines. In order to analyze the dynamic response of the underground pipelines during the earthquake, the three dimensional seismic records were selected and the pipe-soil interaction was considered for the numerical simulation. Three major factors were discussed, respectively. These factors included the earthquake intensity of the site, the end restraints and the boundary conditions of the underground pipelines. Simulation results show that the seismic response of the pipeline resulting from the axial earthquake input motion is biggest, and consequently the axial seismic wave has more influence on the underground pipeline than the other two-dimensional seismic waves.