A review of the response of buried pipelines under seismic excitations

Modern cities depend heavily on utility systems for their day‐to‐day operation and earthquake threats to utility systems become increasingly important in proportion with the level of urbanization. Due to the great potential for destruction, damage and disruption, the seismic problems of utility systems have recently attracted researchers. It became apparent that the seismic behaviour of buried pipeline systems is quite different than that of above‐ground structures. In this paper, an updated and detailed review of the earthquake response and seismic‐resistant design of underground piping systems is presented.