The Major Cause for the Failure of Water Pipelines during a Tectonic Earthquake

• Main Authors: YANG,CHIEN-HUNG, 楊建鴻
• Other Authors: HSU,TSE-SHANn
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/4gqn64

碩士 === 逢甲大學 === 土木工程學系 === 106 === All the design and construction of water pipelines and water transfer facilities currently in Taiwan must comply with the governing regulations promulgated by the government and their own construction specifications. Therefore, the likelihood of water pipeline explosion or water transfer facility damage in a tectonic earthquake should be low in theory. However, it is not so in reality. In this study, the data of four major earthquakes in Taiwan over the past nearly two decades were first collected to verify these four earthquakes were all tectonic ones. Then the rupture points, explosion points, and surrounding shear zones or shear structures of the water pipelines and water transfer facilities in the four earthquakes were explored to identify the main reason for their ruptures or explosions. According to the findings in this study, all the investigated ruptures or explosions only occurred in tectonic earthquakes. A tectonic earthquake is caused by local faulting or shear banding while faulting or shear banding will trigger secondary all around ground motions. The energy from faulting or shear banding accounts for over 90% of the total energy of a tectonic earthquake while the energy from the ground motions accounts for less than 10%. Therefore, it can be concluded in this study that the main reason for the pipeline/facility ruptures or explosions is the regional displacement of faults or shear zones. Based on this conclusion, it is suggested that faulting or shear banding should also be considered in the design and construction of water pipelines and water transfer facilities in the future in order to reduce the possibility of ruptures or explosions in tectonic earthquakes.