Abstract:
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The formation of a crater by the abrupt and catastrophic rupture of a high-pressure pipeline
can be highly relevant, especially when the crater uncovers other pipelines, which could
undergo a domino effect with a significant increase of the consequences on people or on
the environment. However, this scenario has been only partially studied in the literature.
To assess the influence of the pipeline parameters on the dimensions of the resulting crater,
a statistical analysis of accidental ruptures of buried natural gas pipelines that have
involved the formation of a crater was carried out. Mathematical expressions are proposed
to describe the proportionality relationships found, which can be very useful to support
adequate separation distances in the design and construction of parallel corridors of
pipelines after appropriate escalating effects are considered. Finally, detailed event trees
were developed to calculate the probability of occurrence of the final outcomes, as well as
the identified domino sequences, based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the
data. The study of these accident scenarios, based on actual cases, represents a useful and
needed advance in risk analysis of natural gas transportation through pipelines |