August 23, 2023: Pipeline Geohazard Assessment

  • Author: Dr. Benjamin Zand
  • Level: Advanced
  • 7 PDHs awarded upon successful completion
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Course overview
What is a geohazard assessment? What  geotechnical hazards affect pipelines?  Why is geohazard assessment important?

This course will focus on various types of geohazard that can affect a pipeline and assessment of the effect of geohazard on pipeline integrity. Assessment of pipeline subjected to geohazard, mitigation, and monitoring will be discussed.  

Our live-virtual trainings are conducted in a real-time question and answer classroom format. You may ask questions or comment throughout either verbally or in writing.  

Start Time: 8:30 a.m.
End Time: 4:30 p.m.

PDH Certificate included upon successful completion

  • Course Outline

    Types of Geohazards

  • landslide, ground subsidence,
  • sinkhole,
  • flood,
  • frost heave,
  • earthquake (includes liquefaction, tsunami, and fault crossing)
  • expansive and collapsible soil,
  • water and wind erosion, and
  • shallow ground water level

Fundamentals of Slope Stability Analysis

Soil-pipe interaction analysis - describes the soil spring model for stress analysis of buried pipelines 

Acceptance criteria (stress-based vs strain-based acceptance criteria)

Ground movement mitigation

Vortex-induced vibration

Closing

Dr. Benjamin Zand

Principal Engineer at RSI Pipeline Solutions, LLC
ABOUT Dr. Benjamin Zand
Dr. Benjamin Zand has 20 years of experience in geotechnical engineering, geohazard assessment, stress analysis, pipeline integrity assessment, mechanics of composite material, and mathematical modeling. His experience includes stress and vibration analysis and monitoring for oil and gas transport pipelines and facility piping. Dr. Zand has assisted pipeline operators with geohazard problems such as longwall mining subsidence, ground movement, sinkholes, earthquakes, and fault crossings.

Dr. Zand has developed mitigation and monitoring programs for pipelines subjected to various geohazard conditions. He has assessed numerous pipelines subjected to vibration and cyclic loading from blast and construction. After working with Kiefner & Associates, Inc. from 2012 to 2019, he began a position at RSI Pipeline Solutions, LLC. He has also served as an instructor for the Rock Mechanics course at Ohio State University.