Investigating the Factors That Reduce the Urban Gas Pipeline Vulnerability to Explosion Threats

Introduction: Buried pipelines used to distribute water, gas, oil, and etc. are considered as one of the vital arteries. The experiences of the past wars have confirmed that the invading country focuses on bombing and destroying vital centers, and that gas pipelines can be a source of serious personal and financial losses as an important transmission arteries during war in the event of damage Methods: The vulnerability of buried urban gas pipelines to explosion was determined and the methods for reducing the vulnerability of pipelines were investigated. To this end, the three-dimensional model of the soil-pipe system in ABAQUS software was used to study the effect of factors affecting the pipe behavior, including pipe diameters, diameter to pipe thickness, internal friction angle of soil, soil type, amount of explosives, depth of buried, the distance of explosion site to the pipe burial site, has been investigated on the pipe deformation capacity according to the ALA regulation. The soil was modeled using Solid three elements and shell element. For parametric studies, analyses were performed by the finite element method using ABAQUS software 6.10.1. Results: Studies were conducted for 4 and 12 inch diameter, diameter/thickness ratio of 26, 21 and 35, burial depth of 1, 2, 3 and 4 meters, the explosive charge of 15, 30, 45, 60 and 200 kg TNT and for soil material, hard, soft and clay sands. The results showed that proper burial depth had the most effect in reducing the vulnerability of pipelines against explosive threats. By increasing the pipe thickness and increasing the diameter and applying soft soil around the pipe, a better behavior of the pipe was observed during the explosion Conclusion: To reduce the vulnerability of gas pipelines against explosive threats, the use of buried pipelines has a greater effect on reducing damage due to explosion compared to other parameters, and it is recommended to use this method to increase the resilience of highly important gas pipelines.