For many times, the authors participated in the projects on designing and construction of main pipelines in the Russian north. Accumulated experience brought us to the understanding that the available methods aimed at the assessment of natural risks for pipelines [1, 4-6, 12, 13] have sufficient drawbacks. These methods base on the correlation between the registered accidents and unique landscape units or different Quaternary deposits, thus, the results are hardly comparable and poorly adapted to the GIS of other projects. The comparison of accident rates on pipelines in Russia and the US also does not look quite correct. These difficulties relate to the absence of the single methodological base and uniform indicators for the risks assessment. We offer a new approach based on the system-morphological concept by A. Lastochkin. This concept involves building a geometrically precise model of the Earth’s surface, which is divided into a finite set of elements and their parameters. The assessment of natural risks for pipelines within these elements allows receiving standardized results that are sufficiently good for the forecast. In our research, we used the database of the National Pipeline Mapping System (USA). We divided all the accidents from the database, according to the accident reports, into two groups: 1) accidents caused by natural factors and 2) accidents of another origin. Then we analyzed the first group of accidents by nine key parameters and indicators: 1) altitude, 2) relative height, 3) steepness, 4) vertical curvature, 5) horizontal curvature, 6) exposition of the slopes, 7) proximity to structural lines, 8) type of elementary facet of the Earth’s surface, and 9) its length. We included seven northern states of the US in the analysis and obtained the reasonable picture of the influence of geomorphological conditions on the accident rate. We are going to continue these studies, to involve the factor analysis and the accidents forecast. The expected outcomes can be utilized by the designing of new pipelines on various territories.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEducation and Accreditation in Geosciences; Environmental Legislation, Multilateral Relations and Funding Opportunities
Subtitle of host publicationConference proceedings
Pages3-10
Number of pages8
Edition1.2
ISBN (Electronic)9786197408768, 9786197408775, 9786197408782, 9786197408799, 9786197408805, 9786197408812, 9786197408829, 9786197408836, 9786197408843, 9786197408850, 9786197408867, 9786197408874, 9786197408881, 9786197408898
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2019
Event19th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference, SGEM 2019 - Болгария, Albena, Bulgaria
Duration: 9 Dec 201911 Dec 2019
Conference number: 19

Publication series

NameInternational Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management, SGEM
Number1.2
Volume19
ISSN (Print)1314-2704

Conference

Conference19th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference, SGEM 2019
Abbreviated titleSGEM2019
Country/TerritoryBulgaria
CityAlbena
Period9/12/1911/12/19

    Research areas

  • Accident rate, Geomorphological factor, Natural risks, Pipeline, System-morphological concept

    Scopus subject areas

  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Geology

ID: 47740749