Resilience-based design of natural gas distribution networks

The concept of disaster resilience has received considerable attention in recent years and is increasingly used as an approach for understanding the dynamic response to natural disasters. In this paper, a new performance index measuring the functionality of a gas distribution network has been proposed, which includes the restoration phase to evaluate the resilience index of the entire network. The index can also be used for any type of natural or artificial hazard, which might lead to the disruption of the system. The gas distribution network of the municipalities of Introdacqua and Sulmona, two small towns in the center of Italy that were affected by the 2009 earthquake, has been used as a case study. The pipeline network covers an area of 136 km², with three metering pressure reduction (M/R) stations and 16 regulation groups. Different analyses simulating different breakage scenario events due to an earthquake have been considered. The numerical results showed that the functionality of the medium-pressure gas distribution network is crucial for ensuring an acceptable delivery service during the postearthquake response. Furthermore,the best retrofit strategy to improve the resilience index of the entire network should include emergency shutoff valves along the steel pipes.