A Report for the “Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering Assessment Tool for Natural Gas Storage and Pipeline Systems” Project.
This report is one of a series of reports documenting the methods and findings of a multi-year, multi-disciplinary project conducted by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC). The overall project is titled “Performance-based Earthquake Engineering Assessment Tool for Natural Gas Storage and Pipeline Systems” henceforth referred to as the “OpenSRA Project.”
The overall goal of the OpenSRA Project is to create an open-source, research-based seismic risk assessment tool for natural gas infrastructure that can be used by utility stakeholders to better understand state-wide risks, prioritize mitigation, plan new gas infrastructure, and help focus post-earthquake repair work.
The project team includes researchers from LBNL, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, University of Nevada Reno, the NHERI SimCenter at UC Berkeley, and Slate Geotechnical Consultants and its subcontractors Lettis Consultants International (LCI) and Thomas O’Rourke. Focused research to advance the seismic risk assessment tool was conducted by Task Groups, each addressing a particular area of study and expertise, and collaborating with the other Task Groups.
The scope of this report is to implement and evaluate the analytical procedures used in the OpenSRA software for selected validation cases. The viability of the tool is demonstrated through trial applications to several important representative existing natural gas pipelines and storage facilities. Its use is validated by comparing their estimated performance with that observed during historic earthquakes. The focus of the validation report is on the seismic performance of the underground natural gas, oil, and water pipelines of the Van Norman Utility Corridor along Balboa Boulevard during the 1971 San Fernando and 1994 Northridge earthquakes. Comprehensive data of the subsurface conditions, pipelines, and earthquake effects are freely available for this case so the results of this validation can be shared in depth in this report. The data shared by the utilities for the three other demonstration sites examined in this study are or were restricted under nondisclosure agreements. Hence, the results of the validation of the OpenSRA software at those sites are only summarized in this report.
The OpenSRA software and the analytical procedures used in it are shown to provide reliable estimates of the seismic performance of the natural gas systems examined at the demonstration sites.
Two-page summary: click here.
Download full report: click here
Full List of PEER Reports: click here.
