Numerical Modelling of Underground Water Pipelines exposed to Seismic Loading

Abstract

The essential factor that must get the interest by the engineers during the primary design stage of underground pipes is understanding mechanism of damage during earthquakes. The attention during design period increased due to the increment of seismic catastrophes throughout the few past decades. Therefore, finite element procedure was used for studying the seismic performance of buried pipes. PLAXIS-2D program was using for simulating the seismic performance of buried pipes using earthquake motion of single frequency. The response of both seismic vertical displacement, and acceleration of the buried pipe were simulated. The experiments of shaking table for two models of buried pipe in dry case that surrounded with sand and gravel were compared with numerical simulation results. According to the obtained results, the amplification of seismic wave raised considerably from the buried pipe base to the pipe crown, the biggest amplification occurred in the highest point of the pipe model. It can be noticed that Plaxis-2D software provides an accurate method for the prediction of seismic behaviour of buried pipe due to the obvious compatibility between the results of experiments and numerical simulation.