Effect of Field Bends on the Response of Buried Pipelines Crossing Strike-Slip Fault

Buried continuous pipelines traversing through large geographical area are subjected to various seismic hazards, among which faulting is one of the most damaging. However, such hazards are usually limited to a small region near the fault crossing. Though the codes of practice, in general, suggest not to have pipe bends near fault zones, however, in reality, these are inevitable. The study on the response of buried pipelines with field bends subjected to faulting is very limited. The present study, hence, is carried out to investigate the effect of pipeline bend and its proximity to the fault line on the response parameter of the pipelines. The pipeline strain is evaluated considering field bends crossing strike-slip fault using beam on nonlinear Winkler foundation (BNWF) model. Parametric study has been conducted by varying bend angles and distance of the fault crossing from the bend. The findings indicate that there is a significant increase in compressive strain when the fault trace is crossing at/near the bends.