Buried Steel Water Pipelines in Geohazard Areas—A Basis for Design

Pipelines transporting water resources are often constructed in geohazards regions, including areas with strong ground shaking, faults, landslides, soil subsidence, differential settlement, or soil liquefaction. Safeguarding pipeline integrity in these areas for unhindered water delivery is an essential requirement of pipeline design. “Geohazards and pipelines” constitutes a major topic in pipeline design, with significant importance on pipeline structural safety. In this paper, state-of-the-art methods for the analysis and design of buried steel water pipelines constructed in seismic and geohazard areas are presented. The main aspects of “strain-based” design for steel water pipe are presented, pinpointing its main differences with traditional “stress-based design,” and expanding on its two components, namely, strain demand and strain resistance (or capacity). The present paper can be used as a reference and a background document in relevant codes and standards.