Earthquake Response and Rehabilitation of Critical Lifelines

The earthquake response and rehabilitation of critical lifelines can be enhanced substantially by in situ pipe lining technologies that involve the installation of polymeric linings inside existing, underground pipelines through trenchless construction procedures. In situ linings are not used currently for earthquake protection, and the absence of experimental validation and analytical procedures for seismic loading is a serious barrier to the adoption of in situ linings for improved earthquake performance. This paper focuses on cured in place pipe (CIPP) lining technology for seismic retrofit. The CIPP process involves the installation and curing of fiber reinforced composites inside existing pipelines. The paper describes large-scale testing at the Cornell University and University at Buffalo equipment sites of the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES). The modeling of seismic wave effects on aging and defective pipelines, strengthened with CIPP linings, is discussed. The results of special tests on lined pipe specimens to characterize their response to earthquake induced ground motions are presented.