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SEISMIC VULNERABILITY OF PIPELINES IN INDIA

Conference Paper · December 2014

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Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines in India 2949 

Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines in India

Suresh R. Dash, Sparsh Sehgal and Gautam Nair1

Abstract India, being a developing country, its infrastructure development is

under continual growth. Pipelines are important lifeline facilities spread over
large area and encounter a variety of seismic hazards and soil conditions. The
pipeline infrastructure in India is more than a century old in terms of water
pipeline, however the oil and gas pipeline network, which can be classified as
high risk infrastructure, is quite recent in India. Major oil and gas pipelines were
constructed in India in last 3 to 4 decades. Some of the major existing oil and
gas pipelines in India include Bathinda-Kandla pipeline, Mumbai–Manmad
Pipeline, Dabhol-Bangalore Natural Gas Pipeline, East-West Gas Pipeline, etc.
For risk reduction, most of the times they are buried underground.

Many buried pipelines in India run through high seismic zones and therefore are
exposed to considerable risk. Many new major pipelines are also being proposed
to be constructed in India, including even some cross country pipelines. For the
growing network of pipelines in India, it is becoming very important to look at
the vulnerability of these pipelines and their suitable design and mitigation
techniques to avoid oncoming disasters. This paper describes various modes of
pipeline failures with particular reference to the performance of pipeline in past
Indian earthquakes. For the existing and proposed pipelines in India a
comprehensive graphical representation has been made to visualize the extent of
vulnerability of them during future earthquakes.

1  Introduction
Failure of pipelines due to seismic hazards can cause serious secondary hazard
followed by an earthquake in terms of lack of supply item, fire breakout,
environmental pollution, etc. The structural damage to the pipelines due to
earthquakes are also severe, which often need major repair and restoration. Fig.
                                                            
Suresh R. Dash ( ) • Sparsh Sehgal • Suresh R. Dash • Gautam Nair
School of Infrastructure, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar,
Bhubaneswar 751 013, Odisha, India
e-mail: srdash@iitbbs.ac.in

© Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt Ltd., 2015

V. Matsagar (ed.), Modeling, Simulation and Analysis
ISBN: 978-93-84898-72-4 2949
2950 Suresh R. Dash et al.

1 shows a typical example of failure of a major pipeline of 2m diameter due to

thrust faulting during 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake [1]. The major use of pipelines
in India is to carry water, waste-water, oil and gas. As they run over a large
geographical area, they encounter a large variety of seismic hazards en-route.
Many parts of the country falls under moderate to high seismic zone. Hence, the
seismic risk associated with pipelines in those regions are quite high and need
serious consideration to reduce the probability of occurrence of any hazard
following an earthquake.
The existing pipelines in India are not very extensive as compared to many
developed countries like USA, UK, etc., however, constant progress is
underway to increase these lifeline facilities. Some of the present existing
pipelines are oil and gas pipelines like the Bathinda-Kandla Pipeline, Mumbai–
Manmad Pipeline, Dabhol-Bangalore Natural Gas Pipeline, East West Gas
Pipeline, etc., which traverses large geographical area. There are many water
pipelines spreading all over India, but many of them are quite old and the risk
involved in it is quite low as compared to oil and gas pipelines.

Fig. 1  A Damaged Steel Transmission Pipeline during 1999 Chilli

Earthquake due to thrust faulting [1]

Since there are a lot of pipelines proposed to be built soon in India and seeing
the tremendous future scope of pipelines and the areas where they are proposed
includes high seismic areas, there is a need to look on various factors to prevent
their failures during future earthquakes.
Hence this paper tries to bring out the seismic vulnerability of pipelines for
present and proposed ones in India.

2  Pipeline Performance during Past Earthquakes in India

The pipelines in India mainly carry either oil, gas or water and hence normally
categorised as a) Oil Pipeline, b) Gas Pipeline and c) Water Pipeline. The oil
pipelines are either used to carry crude oil or to carry refined product, whereas
Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines in India 2951 

the gas pipelines and water pipelines are used to carry natural gas or LPG and
water respectively.
In India the major oil and gas pipeline network has been developed in recent
years, hence, their damage reports in earlier major earthquakes are not available.
Indian data about pipeline performance during past earthquakes are also very
scarce, mainly due to two reasons, 1) major oil and gas pipeline infrastructure are
relatively new and 2) old water pipelines and its performance during many past
earthquakes are not recorded. However, damages to the pipeline system in some
recent earthquakes are presented in the earthquake reconnaissance reports, as
given below.
During 1999 Chamoli earthquake, Water supply to Chamoli and Gopeshwar
towns was disrupted due to damage to the pipelines by the landslides [2].
During 2001 Gujarat earthquake, large amount of pipeline damages were
encountered. Portable water was lost to over 1,000,000 people immediately after
the earthquake which was mainly attributed to the damages to wells, pump
stations and buried pipelines. About 700 km of water distribution and
transmission pipelines out of 3500 km in Kutch District (i.e., 20%) had to be
replaced following the earthquake [1]. There were also many damages reported
to the pipelines connected to tanks (Fig. 2). There was also complete collapse of
pipeline support structure at Kandla Port (Fig. 3). There were no reported damage to
buried oil pipelines managed by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in Gujarat [3].
During 2004 Sumatra Earthquake of magnitude 9.0, many water pipelines
were damaged severely in Andaman and Nicobar Islands area (Fig. 4). These
leakages of water hampered the water supply to the city of Port Blair for over
ten days [4]. The continuous oil pipelines performed better during the
earthquake. There were also some cases of breakages at junctions of pipes with
the facilities like tanks, machines, etc.
The performance of buried and above-ground pipeline structures subjected to
ground-surface rupture, soil liquefaction, and other seismic hazards is critical for
engineers for suitable seismic design and mitigation. With many existing and
proposed major pipelines in India, it is becoming more important to understand
the effects of seismic hazards (such as shaking, liquefaction, fault-surface
rupture, landslide, etc.) on buried pipelines and take adequate measures to
reduce their risk during any expected seismic events.

Fig. 2  Motor fuel storage tank slid off its foundation causing
extensive damage to inlet and outlet piping [3]
2952 S
Suresh R. Dash et al.

Fig. 3  Com
mplete collapse of
o pipe support at
a Kandla Port arrea [3]

Fig. 4  Failuure of bell and sppigot joint of thee pipeline in Lam

mbaline
area near Port Blairr in South Andam man Island [4]

3  Piipeline Classification foor Design an

nd their Maaterials

3.1 Classification
C n of Pipelinee
The pipelines are noormally classiffied as either (a) continuouss pipeline or (b) (
segmen nted pipeline, based
b on the design
d proceduure to be follow wed. Continuoous
pipelin
nes, which aree considered to t be flexible,, are preparedd by joining the t
individdual pipeline seegments with rigid
r joints (e.gg., full penetraation butt weldded
joint). On
O the other hand, segmented pipelines havve rigid pipe seegments but with
flexiblee joints that caan accommodaate displacemeent and rotation. It is normally
preferred to have conntinuous pipeliines for major oil and gas piipelines, whereeas
segmen nted pipelines are
a normally used
u for water pipelines.
p

Materrial Used forr Pipelines

In past years many materials
m have been
b used for construction
c off pipeline systeem
g with wood and
starting a masonry. Plastics are recent
r materialls used for suuch
Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines in India 2953 

systems and these are widely used because of its good strength and ductility.
However steel pipelines are still used for high pressure activities, where large
stresses are encountered. Table 1 summarises the materials used for
manufacturing pipelines.

Table 1 Materials used for major pipelines

Material Advantages Disadvantages Primary Use
cast iron No longer large, old systems
manufactured;
deteriorates in some
soils
ductile strong, ductile deteriorates in some soils large systems
iron
Steel Inexpensive wall thickness must be raw water mains
carefully considered
Concrete Inexpensive Stiff pipe which can crack raw water mains
and fail at small strain. and industrial
Hence the joins are systems
pre- Inexpensive designed to accommodate raw water mains
stressed the expected displacement and industrial
concrete and rotation. systems
asbestos Brittle pipe; no longer Replaced with cast iron
cement manufactured pipes; in old systems
PVC Inexpensive gasoline from soil can pass <10 inch pipes
into pipe
non-rigid Permissible strain can Requires special heat service lines in
plastic be very high (~ 10– fusion joining tools; water systems
20%) inorganic chemicals in soil and main lines in
weaken pipe gas systems
Copper Non-corrosive, Can Expensive service lines
accommodate large
strain
galvanize corrodes; produces
d iron discoloured water; has a
short life; deteriorates in
some soils

4  Seismic Hazards Related to Pipelines

The main seismic hazards that are responsible for pipeline failures are either (a)
Ground Shaking, or (b) Permanent Ground Displacement. Ground shaking refers
to the transient soil deformations due to seismic wave propagation, which can
cause a significant percentage of the overall pipe damage spreading over a large
area. Ground deformation basically refers to the of soil failures causing
Landslide, Liquefaction or Fault Displacement.
2954 S
Suresh R. Dash et al.

The two types off pipelines i.e. segmented and a continuouss pipelines haave
differennt modes of faailure subjectedd to various typpes of seismic hazards. In caase
of seggmented pipellines, the faillures are conncentrated at joints whereas,
uous pipelines mainly fail duue to rupture of pipe barrel. The segmentted
continu
pipelinee failure modees are tensionn/compression//rotation of the joints and the t
continu
uous pipeline faailure modes aree tension/comppression failure of pipe wall. Fig.
F
5 showws different faillure modes of pipelines
p subjeected to seismicc hazards [2].

(a) (b) (c))

(d) (ee)
Fig. 5  Some
S typical faiilure modes of pipeline
p due to seismic
s hazards (a) tension failuure
of segm
mented pipeline at a joint, (b) comppression failure of
o segmented pippeline joint,
(c) rotaational failure of joint in segm mented pipeline, (d) tension faillure of continuoous
pipelinee, and (e) local buckling
b of contiinuous pipeline.

5  Ov
verview of Pipeline
P Nettwork in In
ndia

5.1 Existing
E Majjor Pipeliness in India
The preesent oil and gas
g pipeline neetwork spreads throughout Inndia, having moost
of themm on its norrth-western paart. GAIL, whhich started as a a natural gas g
transmiission companny during the late eighties, has made a large network of
Natural Gas Pipelinees covering moore than 10,9000 km and twoo LPG Pipelinnes
coverin
ng 2040 km [5]. On the otther hand, Inddian Oil, the pioneerp in crosss-
country
y petroleum prroduct pipelinee in the Indian sub-continent,, constructed and
a
commissioned a pipeeline network of o 11,214 km, over the last four
f decades [6].
Table 2 lists some of the major oil and
a gas pipelinnes present in Inndia.
The network of water
w supply annd sewage pipeelines are muchh bigger than thet
gas and
d oil pipeline grid.
g But data on
o these is nott readily availaable. The seism
mic
Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines in India 2955 

risk involved in water pipelines is lower than that in oil and gas pipeline
systems. Therefore, from the view point of seismic design, greater importance is
usually given to oil and gas pipelines as compared to water or sewage pipelines.

Table 2 The present status of pipelines in India

Seismic Length
Sl. Refer-
From-To Type Zone of
No. ences
Passing Pipeline
1 Salaya- Mathura Oil II, III, IV 1256 [7]
2 HaziraJagdishpur Gas II, III 1750 [8]
3 Jamnagar-Loni Gas II,III, IV, 1269 [9]
V
4 Kandla- Bhatinda Oil II,III, IV, 1331 [10]
V
5 Paradip- Barauni Oil II,III 1302 [11]
6 MundraPanipat Oil II,III, IV, 1194 [7]
V
7 Dabhol-Bangalore Gas II,III 1000 [12]
8 Bombay High-Uran Oil & III, IV 203 [13]
Gas
9 Herra-Uran Oil & III 81 [13]
Gas
10 Salaya-Viramgam Oil III, IV 275 [14]
11 Viramgam-Koyali Oil III 141 [7]
12 Viramgam-Mathura Oil II, III 803 [7]
13 Ahmedabad-Koyali Oil III 77 [10]
14 Ankleshwar-Koyali Oil III 94 [15]
15 Kalol-Nawagam-Koyali Oil III 127 [16]
16 Nahorkatiya-Digboi Oil V 48 [17]
17 Nahorkatiya-Guwahati- Oil III, IV, V 1157 [18]
Bongaigaon-Barauni
18 Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur Gas II, III 1750 [8]
(HVJ)
19 Bassein-Hazira Gas III 231 [19]
20 Bassein-Hazira (Second) Gas III 244 [19]
21 Bombay High (ICP)-Heera Gas III 142 [20]
22 Ankleshwar-Baroda Gas III 96 [19]
23 Ankleshwar-Uttran Gas III 38 [19]
24 Uttran-Kawas Gas III 25 [19]
25 Cambay-Dhuvaran Gas III 25 [19]
26 Kalol-Ahmedabad Gas III 35 [19]
27 Dahej-Gandhar Gas III 72 [19]
28 Tanot-Ramgarh (Rajasthan) Gas II & III 70 [19]
29 Delhi-Sonipat-Bahadurgarh Gas III & IV 80 [19]
30 Tatipaka-Kakinada-Narsapur Gas III 72 [19]
(A.P)
31 Narsapur-Kovur (A.P) Gas II & III 72 [19]
2956 Suresh R. Dash et al.

5.2 Future Growth of Pipelines in India

The pipelines are one of the safer ways to carry high risk (e.g., inflammable)
materials. Hence, along with the development of the country, India, the pipeline
infrastructure is also increasing rapidly. Table 3 details some of the near future
major pipelines going to be constructed in India.

Table 3 Proposed major pipelines in India to be commissioned in near future

Sl. Seismic Zone
Year Span From-To Project Status Type References
No. Passing
1. 2011– Bhatinda-Srinagar To be finished by mid Gas Zone III &IV [21]
2014 2014
2. 2011 Mehsana-Bhatinda Under const. Gas II,III &IV [22]
3. 2012– Mallavaram-Vijaipur Expected to start by Gas II &III [23]
2015 Feb 2015
4. 2012– Hazira-dahej Land problems Product IV [24]
2013
5. 2012– Paradip-Haldia- Expected to start soon Crude II &III [25]
2013 Durgapur oil
6. 2009– Paradip-Ranchi Expected to start by Oil II &III [26]
2014 2014
8. 2013- Jagdishpur-Haldia Being implemented in Gas II & III [27]
phased manner
10. 2014- Nahorkatia-Numaligarh Expected to start Oil V [28]
laying in 2014
11. Ennore-Nagapattinum Expected Gas II & III [29]
commissioning in 30
months after receipt
of statutory
clearances
12. Salaya-Mathura Expected Crude II, III & IV [30]
commissioning in 30 Oil
months after receipt
of statutory
clearances

6  Indian Seismicity and Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines

Many parts of India is exposed to high seismic activity. India is prone to Great
Earthquakes as the top boundary of the country is located on the plate boundary.
India has experienced four M > 8 events in 53 years (1897 – 1950), those are
1897 Assam Earthquake (M8.7), 1905 Kangra Earthquake (M8.6), 1934 Bihar-
Nepal Earthquake (M8.4) and 1950 Assam Earthquake (M8.7). No M > 8
earthquakes is seen in last 50 years, which shows that India is not very far from
seeing another major earthquake soon. 2001 Bhuj (M7.7) and 2004 Sumatra
(M9.3) earthquakes can be seen in this light that although the first one was not >
Seismic Vulnerability of Pipelines in India 2957 

8 earthquake and the second one did not have its epicenter in India, their
devastating effects to the India’s infrastructure was very strong.
Pipelines, as a rapidly increasing lifeline infrastructure spreading throughout
the country, their vulnerability to seismic hazards in India is of great concern.
Fig. 6 shows some of the important existing and proposed pipeline network in
India over the seismic zone map. Some pipelines in north-eastern states and in
Gujarat comes in Zone V. Many pipelines are also crossing multiple seismic
zones, requiring different design at various locations. The existing and proposed
pipelines are also superimposed over the seismo-tectonic map of India, as shown
in Fig. 7. The figure clearly shows many pipeline routes crossing intra-plate
fault lines. These pipelines are vulnerable to fault displacement, which can cause
serious disruption and damage to the pipeline system.

Fig. 6  Existing and proposed pipelines plotted over the

seismic zone map of India
2958 Suresh R. Dash et al.

Fig. 7  Existing and proposed pipelines plotted over the seismo-tectonic map of India.
Seismo-Tectonic Map is adopted from [31]

7  Conclusion
The pipelines in India, spread in many parts of the country, is vulnerable to
seismic hazards in higher seismic zones. It is necessary to take preventive
measures that eliminate, or at-least decrease their vulnerability reasonably to
avoid disaster during and after an earthquake. Many existing pipelines in India
that are subjected to the risks of earthquakes, also requires requalification. The
new pipelines must be designed for all possible seismic hazards it may
encounter en-route, along with other loading conditions. Careful attention to be
given for the site characterisation and seismic hazard estimation during pipeline
design.

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