• What is the problem being addressed?
During the last decades, the overall exposure to seismic risk has increased not only due to the higher population density but also due to the more challenging construction methods and the multilayered connection between the various urban socio-economic activities. Within the built environment, the energy transportation systems, despite their structural simplicity, are one of the weakest links in terms of seismic safety. This is because their potential failure or loss of serviceability can have a disproportional direct and indirect socio-economic impact. Damage to pipelines, has also a transnational dimension, since there are no political boundaries in natural disasters: consequences in one region can propagate to other regions and affect millions of people. This spatial dimension of seismic risk, which is propagated by the interdependency of energy network operation, is poorly accounted for in risk assessment primarily due to the absence of a comprehensive and integrated resilience methodology and the lack of a joint strategy for risk management.
• Why is it important for society?
Energy production, preservation and safe transportation is one of the top priorities at a European level. Natural gas, in particular, has a key role in the future of energy supply for the E.U. with a growth anticipated to rise from currently one fifth, to one third of total energy supply within the next 25 years. Alternative transportation routes are also of major significance, as they cross areas of substantially different levels of seismic hazard. From these premises, arises the need to eliminate the probability of occurrence of a potential seismically induced failure (i.e. related to explosion, fire, leakage etc) that would not only have devastating environmental impact in the affected areas, but could also cause operation disruptions with equally significant socio-economic consequences throughout Europe.
• What are the overall objectives?
EXCHANGE-Risk is an Intersectoral/International, Research and Innovation transfer scheme between academia and the industry in Europe and North America focusing on mitigating Seismic Risk of buried steel pipeline Networks that are subjected to ground-imposed permanent deformations. It aims in developing a (nearly real time) Decision Support System for the Rapid Pipeline Recovery to minimize the time required for inspection and rehabilitation in case of a major earthquake. EXCHANGE-Risk involves novel hybrid experimental and numerical work of the soil-pileline system integrated with innovative technologies for rapid pipe inspection. The outcome of the project is a series of well targeted exchanges between the partners and ensures transfer of knowledge between the academia and the industry.
