Review of Dynamic Response of Buried Pipelines

Buried pipelines, such as water supply and power transmission systems, play a vital role in daily life. Seismic resistance of the pipeline systems is a very important research topic because of its tremendous impact during and after earthquake. This paper reviewed the investigations from the last several decades of the dynamic behavior of underground pipelines. Nine topics were included: theoretical evaluation of seismic response of buried pipelines, modeling for soil–structure interaction/fluid–soil–pipe interaction for buried pipelines, analysis of pipeline seismic response due to permanent ground deformation, seismic response of pipelines passing through liquefication areas, finite-element analysis of buried pipelines, experimental studies of seismic response of underground pipelines, seismic damage assessment, seismic behavior of pipeline networks, and seismic performance of joints and bend regions. It was found that more and more studies have been based on finite-element analysis considering that the computer technology has been well developed and finite-element analysis is much less expensive than experiments. Although common damages during earthquakes are caused by the wave propagation effect, the most severe damages are caused by permanent ground displacement, such as fault movement. The studies of pipelines subjected to fault movement were reviewed, but few seismic damage assessments were found that focused on the damage caused by fault movement.