Seismic Damage to Pipeline: Case Study

Abstract

A case study of damage to a welded steel pipeline in Mexico City, caused by the 1985 Michoacan earthquake, is presented. Seismic damage to pipelines in past earthquakes is briefly reviewed. The damage has typically been due to seismic wave propagation or permanent ground deformations, such as faulting, landslides, or lateral spreads. Physical characteristics of the case study pipeline, pertinent soil conditions, recorded ground motion, and observed seismic damage in Mexico City are then presented. The recorded ground motion in the lake zone of Mexico City suggests a significant contribution from Rayleigh waves. A previously developed analysis procedure is used to estimate stress induced by seismic wave propagation in the case study pipeline. The pipeline stress is a function of the amplitude and wavelength of the ground strain, maximum friction forces at the soil‐pipe interface, and the stress‐strain characteristics of the pipeline material. It is shown that the estimated stress is only slightly less than the local compressional buckling stress for the case history pipeline.