Risk Assessment for a Main Pipeline under Severe Soil Conditions on Exposure to Seismic Forces

Abstract

Main Pipelines of the Russian Federation are critical energy facilities that make a significant contribution to the operation of power industry as a whole. Earthquakes are almost always followed by an increase in the accident rate on pipelines. Therefore, there is a reason to suppose that seismic forces (even minor ones) accelerate failure occurrence in a number of pipeline sections and serve as “the last straw” that causes accidents. The pipelines incur the most severe damage when the route is co directional to the seismic strain vector.