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Visit project website me link sti selida: http://nsfnees.engin.umich.edu/

Radoslaw L. Michalowski

Damage Detection and Health Monitoring of Buried Pipelines

In an effort to develop methods for damage detection techniques and long-term health monitoring of buried pipelines, a research project is carried out focusing on damage to concrete pipelines subjected to ground rupture.  A major component of the work is carried out in the Cornell University Large Displacement Facility, one of the NEES (Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulations) laboratories.

Sponsored by the NSF NEESR grant, this is a multi-investigator project, with the University of Michigan being the lead institution (Profs. R.L. Michalowski, J. Lynch and R. Green), collaborating with Purdue University (Prof. J. Weiss), and Merrimack College (Prof. A. Bradshaw).  The NEES laboratory at Cornell University includes a giant split test box to simulate ground rupturing.  The inside of this box is illustrated in Fig. 1.  The instrumented pipe segments seen in the figure were later assembled into one pipeline, nearly forty feet long, and were subjected to a horizontal strike-slip faulting.

Figure 1.  Test bed with buried pipeline prepared for testing.

The test box with the buried pipeline prior to testing is illustrated in Fig. 2, the ground rupture after the test is shown in Fig. 3, and excavated segments of the pipeline are shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 2.  Test bed with buried pipeline prepared for testing.

Information about deformation of the pipeline during ground displacement will help in the understanding of how concrete pipelines respond to ground rupturing.  This, in turn, will be used to design new sensing systems capable of indicating damaged pipe segments.

Figure 3.  Ground rupture.

Figure 4.  Students surveying the pipeline damage after the test.