Effect of the Denali Fault Rupture on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Abstract

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline winds its way south from the Alaskan North Slope, transecting the state for a distance of 1,287 km (800 miles), to the Marine Terminal at Valdez. At peak throughput, the 1,219-mm (48-inch) diameter pipeline transported 2.1 million barrels of warm North Slope crude oil per day, and currently delivers about 1.0 million barrels per day. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company has operated the pipeline for its owner companies since startup in 1977. On November 3, 2002 the Denali Fault, which intersects the pipeline route near Milepost 589 in central Alaska, ruptured over a distance of 336 km, producing the largest earthquake from a continental strike slip fault in North America since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. This paper describes the design of the special above-ground pipeline segment in the Denali Fault zone and its response to violent, near fault shaking and displacement during the November 3rd, magnitude 7.9 Denali Fault event.