Development of Real-Time Safety Control System for Urban Gas Supply Network
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 2
Abstract
The seismic safety of city gas supply has been the major research topic of the writers in past decades. To avoid earthquake hazards due to leakage of gas from breakage of buried pipes, a real-time safety control system, SUPREME, has been deployed and put into practical use. SUPREME employs 3,800 new spectrum intensity sensors and remote control devices to achieve quick gas supply shut off. It monitors the earthquake motion at a large number of sites on a real-time basis, interprets the data, and assesses gas pipe damage in order to decide whether or not the gas supply should be interrupted. The present paper first describes the philosophy behind this system. Second, it describes the performance of the system during the recent Taiwan earthquakes as well as more significant design earthquakes. This system represents the state-of-the-art of computer-operated safety measures, achieved by advanced geotechnical engineering.
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Acknowledgments
A substantial amount of borehole data was supplied to the writers by many municipalities, including the Tokyo metropolitan government, Yokohama City, Chiba City, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Saitama Prefecture. Cooperation with the Great Taipei Gas Company has made it possible to demonstrate the satisfactory performance of the SUPREME system. The development of the system was significantly promoted by discussion conducted at the Association for Development of Earthquake Prediction with Dr. T. Katayama, Mr. J. Ikeda, and Ms. Y. Ogawa. The writers deeply appreciate all the assistance and cooperation kindly provided by governments, institutes, and individuals.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 2 • February 2006
Pages: 237 - 249
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 6, 2002
Accepted: Apr 7, 2004
Published online: Feb 1, 2006
Published in print: Feb 2006
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