Lightweight and stiff as a board, a plastic foam material is being used to protect Utah’s natural gas pipelines from rupturing during earthquakes.
“If an earthquake occurs, high-pressure gas lines are one of the most important items to protect,” says Steven Bartlett, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Utah. “If they rupture and ignite, you essentially have a large blowtorch, which is catastrophic.”
Bartlett has partnered with natural-gas company Questar to use large expanded polystyrene blocks called “geofoam” as a compressible, protective cover for natural gas pipelines buried underground.