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.
This subsection of the project focuses on the fragility of natural gas infrastructure. Three systems are considered (buried pipeline, underground storage facilities, and surficial storage and distribution systems). Each has undergone finite element modeling to estimate the response of the system and the probability of failure. The results of the finite element modeling are used to develop fragility curves that are implemented into OpenSRA to aid end users in estimating failures in their systems as well as planning mitigation efforts.
Two-page summary: click here.
Download full report: click here
Full List of PEER Reports: click here.
