Simulating Responses of Buried Steel Pipe Crossing Reverse Fault

The responses of the buried pipeline due to reverse fault dislocating are studied by a 3-dimension shell finite element model with equivalent boundary spring in ANSYS program. The calculating length of the model is determined by dip angle of the reverse fault: The length is 150 times pipe diameter when the angle is equal to or bigger than 45°; but the length is 240 times pipe diameter when the angle is less than 45°. The finite element model is fit for computing that dip angle is less than 80°. Results show: Failure modes of the pipes are determined by dip angle and dislocation value of the fault. When the angle is gentle and the dislocation is small, either local buckling(wrinkling) or beam buckling can be happened. The angle is equal to or bigger than 75°, local buckling and beam buckling can be happened at same time.