Numerical Modeling Aspects of Buried Pipeline—Fault Crossing

Onshore buried steel pipelines transporting oil and gas play a major role in the energy supply chain. Hence, when seismic areas are transversed, fault crossing might be inevitable, which may heavily endanger the pipeline integrity. Thus, the design of buried pipelines at fault crossing remains a research topic of great interest both for the industry and the academia. Experimental, analytical and numerical approaches are used for that purpose. In this chapter, the numerical modeling of pipelines subjected to faulting is addressed and the advantages and disadvantages of the available numerical approaches are highlighted. The impact of fault type on the pipeline mechanical behavior is investigated and numerical considerations, such as the geometrical nonlinearity, the ovalization and the internal pressure are evaluated using a simple, well-established and reliable numerical approach. The outcome of this study provides useful information and guidelines to practicing engineers for the analysis and design of buried pipelines at fault crossings.