Soil-pipeline interaction along active fault systems

The problem of soil-pipe interaction along active faults is numerically taken into consideration by following a displacement-based approach. The interaction is analysed by means of lumped coupled elastoplastic springs, whose failure locus is linearized piece-wise, and the equations governing their behaviour are set in a form such that a linear complementarity problem can be formulated. The numerical formulation is conceived for taking large displacements into account. The ground motion is controlled; the solution is presented in terms of pipe displacements and internal pipe actions, and its dependency on geometrical parameters is discussed. The problem of the axial instability of the pipeline is also studied.