Assessing the Hazard to Buried High-Pressure Gaspipelines from Earthquakes in German Seismic Zones

Since earthquakes are quite rare in Germany and are fairly mild when they do occur, and since high pressure gas pipelines are not known to have sustained any damage due this reason, the relevant design standards have not included seismic loads hitherto. Before the introduction of EUROCODE 8, Germany had no valid body of standards making a direct reference to the calculation of seismic loads on high pressure gas pipelines. The introduction of the EN 1998-1 and EN 1998-4 standards specified in EUROCODE 8 has now provided an approach to design calculations against seismic loads for buried pipelines as well as for other structures. The present paper follows an approach described in these standards with a view to assessing the hazard potential to buried high pressure gas pipelines specifically for regions within the Federal Republic of Germany.