Regional Conference on Permafrost 2021 and the 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering
Slope Stabilization along a Buried Crude-Oil Pipeline in Ice-Rich Permafrost
Publication: Permafrost 2021: Merging Permafrost Science and Cold Regions Engineering
ABSTRACT
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) transports warm oil through a 48-inch diameter pipeline (mainline) 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, in Alaska. The system traverses continuous and discontinuous permafrost terrain and is supported aboveground or belowground, depending on subsurface conditions. The stabilization site is in discontinuous warm permafrost in the Copper River Basin in Alaska’s interior. The mainline at the site is buried in thaw-unstable, ice-rich permafrost and actively refrigerated to allow for animal crossings. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (APSC) initially observed evidence of ground movement at the study site in 2012, threatening to expose the mainline. APSC developed and implemented stability mitigation measures to protect the mainline. This paper demonstrates how geotechnical hazards due to changing environment and permafrost conditions are being managed along TAPS and evaluates mitigation design by comparing predicted and observed subsurface conditions at the study site 3 years after mitigation.
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REFERENCES
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Permafrost 2021: Merging Permafrost Science and Cold Regions Engineering
Pages: 339 - 350
Editor: Jon Zufelt, Ph.D., HDR Alaska
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8358-9
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Oct 21, 2021
Published in print: Oct 21, 2021
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