EFFECTS OF GEOSYNTHETIC REINFORCEMENT ON THE SEISMIC

PERFORMANCE OF BURIED PIPES

Büşra Nur Kılınç

(Thesis Supervisors: Prof. Ayşe Edinçliler)

ABSTRACT

Buried pipelines are critical for transporting water, sewage, gas, and other essential utilities, and their failure during seismic events can lead to significant disruptions and damages. This thesis examines the effect of different geogrid layer arrangements on the seismic behaviour of buried High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes through a series of shaking table experiments. The study evaluates the effectiveness of different geogrid reinforcement configurations on the seismic performance of the buried pipe. A comprehensive experimental program was conducted, involving 15 shaking table tests under 3 different earthquake motions. Geogrid layers were positioned, and five cases were examined: an unreinforced control case, pipe wrapping with geogrid, two layer of geogrid, three layer of geogrid and four layer of geogrid. The test results demonstrate that geosynthetic reinforcement might improves the seismic performance of buried pipes. In particular, the tests showed that the different geogrid arrangements resulted in varying improvement percentages in the seismic performance of buried pipes. These findings highlight the potential use of geogrids to enhance the seismic performance of buried pipe, offering valuable insights for designing more safe pipe systems in earthquake-prone regions.