Seismic Fragility and Restoration of Pump Stations for Potable Water Supply

Earthquake damage to water supply systems profoundly impacts safety and the economy out of proportion to pipeline repair costs. The University of Colorado previously developed CUWNet, a model of water-supply pipeline damage and restoration that accounts for (1) human factors such as how repairs are slowed by electricity, mutual aid, and repair-supply limitations; (2) damage and restoration over time, considering the mainshock, aftershocks, and afterslip; and (3) service restoration as a function of completed repairs. This project expanded CUWNet by including additional equations along with the required parameter values to add pump stations to the model. The enhancement balances simplicity with computational power: simplicity in the sense that the necessary pump station data can be easily and quickly collected, and power in the sense that the model reasonably distinguishes salient seismic features that make the pump station building and equipment more or less vulnerable to earthquakes, so that the analyst can assess the value of remediation measures as they might reduce the fragility and repair duration of the pump station. Published in 2020.