Seismic response analysis of pipes by a probabilistic approach

Seismic response of buried pipes in longitudinal direction is studied. The effect of the variation of geotechnical properties of the surrounding soil on the stiffness, mass and damping of the soil is considered. The soil–structure interaction depends on pipe stiffness, joint stiffness, the variation of the soil stiffness and the soil mass and damping. Variations of the properties of the surrounding soil along the pipe are described by the random field theory. A numerical model is developed in order to simulate the effects of the variation of the soil on displacements, bending moments in the pipe and also to carry out a statistical analysis. The influence of different parameters regarding design and safety level of the pipe is conducted.