Monitoring pipe line stress due to ground displacement
Northwest Pipeline Corp. has a large-diameter natural gas pipe line system from Ignacio, Colo., to Sumas, Wash. At Douglas Pass in Colorado, large landslides required several sections of the line to be relocated outside the slide areas: 4,400 ft of new line in April 1962 and 3,200 ft in March 1963. No serious disruptions occurred for the next 16 years. Then in July 1979, some 1,200 ft had to be relocated. From 1980 to date, many landslides in the Douglas Pass area have caused new deformations, with the springs of 1983 and 1984 being the worst years. In 1980, Northwest Pipeline began engineering and geotechnical studies of the landslide problems. These led to instrumentation and pipe monitoring which indicated that pipe failure can be predicted and prevented if important slope deformations or increases in pipe stresses are detected early enough to implement some mitigating measures. Excavation of the pipe to relieve the stresses was used in most cases. The method was so successful that no pipe failure occurred in 1984 within instrumented sections, in spite of the exceptionally bad climatic conditions experienced.
- Research Organization:
- Northwest Pipeline Corp., Salt Lake City, UT
- OSTI ID:
- 6954362
- Journal Information:
- Pipe Line Ind.; (United States), Vol. 64:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
42 ENGINEERING
NATURAL GAS
TRANSPORT
NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
PIPELINES
FAILURES
MONITORING
STRESS ANALYSIS
LANDSLIDES
RISK ASSESSMENT
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
032000* - Natural Gas- Transport
Handling
& Storage
420205 - Engineering- Transport & Storage Facilities- (1980-)