The Kleinfelder GeoPentech Team (KGT) is working with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to investigate how to incorporate seismic risk into their current Asset Management Program. With this Pilot Study, LADWP is exploring a comprehensive assessment of risk for the water system, as well as planning for future seismic events.
LADWP’s existing Asset Management System assesses risk based on typical, operational conditions; however this System may underestimate the potential risks to the water system by not accounting for seismic risk. While typical operational risk is spread over the life of the asset, seismic events represent discreet and widespread failure potential. Providing an “apples to apples” comparison to incorporate both operational and seismic risk is challenging.
KGT utilized published pipeline fragilities to estimate the likelihood of damage as a result of seismic hazards. Using a past seismic event as a control, the team calibrated the risk model. The consequences of failure for seismic events are evaluated as a function of the impacts to residential, commercial and industrial customers, incorporating the operational consequences as well as the consequences of having multiple pipeline failures occur simultaneously. KGT’s collaboration directly with the Asset Management team at LADWP is helping to develop an improved, comprehensive risk assessment system, rather than an entirely new system.
The goal of the study is to develop a methodology to create a risk -based approach for incorporating seismic risk into a traditional Asset Management System. The development of this methodology is consistent with LADWP’s goal to perform a more complete assessment of their risk exposure to facilitate planning for capital improvements.
Location:
Los Angeles, California
Owner:
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
