Numerical Simulation of Seabed Response and Liquefaction due to Nonlinear Waves

Based on Biot＇s consolidation theory, a two-dimensional model for computation of the seabed response to waves is presented with the finite element method. Numerical results for different wave conditions are obtained, and the effects of wave non-lineafity on the wave-induced seabed response are examined. Moreover, the wave-induced momentary liquefaction in uniform and inhomogeneous seabeds is investigated. It is shown that the wave non-linearity affects the distribution of the wave-induced pore pressure and effective stresses, while the influence of wave non-linearity on the seabed liquefaction potential is not so significant.     

STRESS ANALYSIS OF MARINE PIPELINES CROSSING ELEVATED OBSTRUCTIONS OR LOWERED DEPRESSIONS AT SEABED

- The stress distribution in a pipeline crossing an elevated obstruction or a depressed area on seabed is investigated by using the matrix method for a continuous beam. The characters of foundation underneath the pipeline are presented by boundary elements. Results for depressed areas with different widths and for elevated obstructions with different heights are presented in this paper in terms of dimensionless graphs, which provide the basis for the preliminary design of marine pipelines. The computer program based on the method of boundary elements is rather simple. The contact position of the pipeline with the seabed can be determined automatically by the program through iteration. The results obtained are of high accuracy.     

Fully Coupled Simulation of Interactions Among Waves,Permeable Breakwaters and Seabeds Based on N−S Equations

Interstitial flows in breakwater cores and seabeds are a key consideration in coastal and marine engineering designs and have a direct impact on their structural safety.In this paper,a unified fully coupled model for wave?permeable breakwater?porous seabed interactions is built based on an improved N?S equation.A numerical wave flume is constructed,and numerical studies are carried out by applying the finite difference method.In combination with a physical model test,the accuracy of the numerical simulation results is verified by comparing the calculated and measured values of wave height at measurement points and the seepage pressure within the breakwater and seabed.On this basis,the characteristics of the surrounding wave field and the internal flow field of the pore structure,as well as the evolution process of the fluctuating pore water pressure inside the breakwater and seabed,are further analyzed.The spatial distribution of the maximum fluctuating pore water pressure in the breakwater is compared between two cases by considering whether the seabed is permeable,and then the effect of seabed permeability on the dynamic pore water pressure in the breakwater is clarified.This study attempts to provide a reference for breakwater design and the protection of nearby seabeds.     

An Improved Method of Predicting Drag Anchor Trajectory Based on the Finite Element Analyses of Holding Capacity

Drag anchor is one of the most commonly used anchorage foundation types. The prediction of embedded trajectory in the process of drag anchor installation is of great importance to the safety design of mooring system. In this paper, the ultimate anchor holding capacity in the seabed soil is calculated through the established finite element model, and then the embedded motion trajectory is predicted applying the incremental calculation method. Firstly, the drag anchor initial embedded depth and inclination angle are assumed, which are regarded as the start embedded point. Secondly, in each incremental step, the incremental displacement of drag anchor is added along the parallel direction of anchor plate, so the displacement increment of drag anchor in the horizontal and vertical directions can be calculated. Thirdly, the finite element model of anchor is established considering the seabed soil and anchor interaction, and the ultimate drag anchor holding capacity at new position can be obtained. Fourthly, the angle between inverse catenary mooring line and horizontal plane at the attachment point at this increment step can be calculated through the inverse catenary equation. Finally, the incremental step is ended until the angle of drag anchor and seabed soil is zero as the ultimate embedded state condition, thus, the whole embedded trajectory of drag anchor is obtained. Meanwhile, the influences of initial parameter changes on the embedded trajectory are considered. Based on the proposed method, the prediction of drag anchor trajectory and the holding capacity of mooring position system can be provided.     

Sediment movement characteristics of coast and analysis of seabed evolution

The rotary ring flume is used to study the silty sand movement in a periodic alternating current.Characteristics of sediment movement of different coasts in the tidal current are summarized.More detailed analysis of erosion-sedimentation function in a numerical simulation is made.The equilibrium sediment concentration is advanced.Based on the equilibrium sediment concentration,the seabed erosion-sedimentation index is derived and the seabed erosion-sedimentation calculation is analyzed.The seabed erosion-sedimentation index is used to calculate the seabed evolution of Yangshan sea area and a good agreement with field measurements is obtained.     

Scour of the Seabed Under A Pipeline in Oscillating Flow

The scour of the seabed under a pipeline is studied experimentally in this paper. Tests are carried out in a U-shaped oscillatory water tunnel with a box imbedded in the bottom of the test section. By use of the standard sand, clay and plastic grain as the seabed material, the influence of the bed material on the scour is studied. The relationship between the critical initial gap-to-diameter ratio above which no scour occurs and the parameters of the oscillating flow is obtained. The self-burial phenomenon, which occurs for the pipeline not fixed to two sidewalls of the test section, is not observed for the fixed pipeline. The effect of the pipe on sand wave formation is discussed. The maximum equilibrium scour depths for different initial gap-to-diameter ratios, different Kc numbers and different bed sands are also given in this paper.     

Efficient Elliptic Solver for the Mild Slope Equation Using BI-CGSTAB Method

The elliptic mild slope equation is used to simulate linear wave propagation over variable seabed topography with mild slopes.The governing equation is discretized by the finite difference method.Ba-sed on the BI-CGSTAB technique.an attractive variant of BI-Conjugate Gradients(BI-CG)method,theobtained linear algebraic system of equations is solved.Numerical experiments show that the BI-CGSTABmethod is efficient for solving the elliptic mild slope equation.The results obtained by the BI-CGSTAB-Ba-sed method are much the same as those obtained by other authors with different solution methods,but theconvergence rate is much faster than that of other methods.     

Effect of Wave Nonlinearity on the Instantaneous Seabed Liquefaction

The nonlinear variation of wave is commonly seen in nearshore area, and the resulting seabed response and liquefaction are of high concern to coastal engineers. In this study, an analytical formula considering the nonlinear wave skewness and asymmetry is adopted to provide wave pressure on the seabed surface. The liquefaction depth attenuation coefficient and width growth coefficient are defined to quantitatively characterize the nonlinear effect of wave on seabed liquefaction. Based on the 2D f...     

A data processing method for MAPR hydrothermal plume turbidity data and its application in the Precious Stone Mountain hydrothermal field

Hydrothermal plume is an important constituent of seabed hydrothermal circulation and is also one of the characteristics of active hydrothermal vents. Portable Miniature Autonomous Plume Recorders （MAPR） attached to a towed deep-sea instrument was used to search for hydrothermal plumes and hydrothermal vents. We introduced the basic principle of MAPR based on deep towing technology to detect plumes, then analyzed the factors affecting the quality of the MAPR data and presented a data correction method for MAPR, including instrument location correction, noise reduction processing, system error elimination and seawater background reduction. Finally we applied the method to analyze MAPR data obtained during the Chinese DY115-21 cruise on R/VDayang Iin the “Precious Stone Mountain” hydrothermal field on the Gala-pagos Microplate. The results provided a better understanding of the distribution of the hydrothermal activ-ity in this field, indicating the presence of a new hydrothermal vent.     

Elimination of Wind Wave Effects on Sub-Bottom Profiler Record

With the presence of wind waves, the swaying of survey vessel may effect the quality of sub-bottom profiler records and, therefore, it is necessary to correct the distortions induced by wave action. A major issue is to distinguish wind wave effect and real bedforms such as sand waves. In this paper, a bandstop filter is designed according to the frequency features of wind wave effect to treat the distortion of seabed topography by wind waves. The technique is used to correct the sub-bottom profile in order to eliminate the wave-induced distortions for the sub-bottom profile records from the Yangtze Estuary. This study shows that the undulate seabed record is resulted from wave action, rather than the presence of sand waves, and the filtration technique helps to eliminate the wave effect and recover the real morphology of seabed and the sediment sequence underneath. In addition, a method for data processing is proposed for the case that the record indeed represents a combination of wave effects and real bedforms.     

The numerical study of wave-induced pore water pressure response in highly permeable seabed

The coupling numerical model of wave interaction with porous medium is used to study waveinduced pore water pressure in high permeability seabed.In the model,the wave field solver is based on the two dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equations with a k-ε closure,and Forchheimer equations are adopted for flow within the porous media.By introducing a Velocity-Pressure Correction equation for the wave flow and porous flow,a highly efficient coupling between the two flows is implemented.The numerical tests are conducted to study the effects of seabed thickness,porosity,particle size and intrinsic permeability coefficient on regular wave and solitary wave-induced pore water pressure response.The results indicate that,as compared with regular wave-induced,solitary wave-induced pore water pressure has larger values and stronger action on seabed with different parameters.The results also clearly show the flow characteristics of pore water flow within seabed and water wave flow on seabed.The maximum pore water flow velocities within seabed under solitary wave action are higher than those under regular wave action.     

Numerical Simulation of Bragg Reflection Based on Linear Waves Propagation over A Series of Rectangular Seabed

A numerical model, Evolution Equation of Mild-Slope Equation （EEMSE） developed by Hsu et al. （2003）, was applied to study the Bragg reflection of water waves over a series of rectangular seabed. Three key parameters of the Bragg reflection including the peak coefficient of primary Bragg reflection, its corresponding relative wavelength, and the bandwidth, have shown to be effective in describing the characteristics of the primary Bragg reflection. The characteristics of the Bragg reflection were investigated under the various conditions comprising number, height, and spacing interval of a series of rectangular seabed. The results reveal that the peak of Bragg reflection increases with the increase of rectangular seabed height and number, the bandwidth and the shift value of the Bragg reflection depend on the increase of the rectangular seabed height as well as the decrease of rectangular seabed number, and the relative rectangular seabed spacing in the rang of 3 and 4 could produce higher Bragg reflection. Finally, a correlative and regressive analysis is performed by use of the calculated data. Based on the results of the analysis, empirical equations were established. Our study results can provide an appropriate choice of a series of rectangular seabed field for a practical design.     

Wave Influence on Underwater Launch and Recovery System

In this paper,the underwater vehicle,sling and the mother ship are considered as a single de-gree of freedom system connected by a spring.Through the analysis of this system,a physical model is es-tablished,which describes the motion of the vehicle caused by the ship motion and wave motion.Furthermore,a mathematical model based on this physical model is obtained,and a numerical solutionprogram is made.As an example,a practical launch and recovery system for an underwater robot is calcu-lated by use of the program.and the motion track of the robot is obtained.     

Analytical Solution for Wave-Induced Response of Seabed with Variable Shear Modulus

A plane strain analysis based on the generalized Biot's equation is utilized to investigate the wave-induced response of a poro-elastic seabed with variable shear modulus.By employing integral transform and Frobenius methods,the transient and steady solutions for the wave-induced pore water pressure,effective stresses and displacements are analytically derived in detail.Verification is available through the reduction to the simple case of homogeneous seabed.The numerical results indicate that the inclusion of variable shear modulus significantly affects the wave-induced seabed response.     

Study on Pure IL VIV of A Free Spanning Pipeline Under General Boundary Conditions

Pipeline spans may occur due to natural seabed irregularities or local scour of bed sediment. The pure in-line (IL) vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) analysis of the free spans is an important subject for design of pipeline in uneven seabed. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of pure IL VIV of a free spanning pipeline under general boundary conditions. An IL wake oscillator model which can describe the coupling of pipeline structure and fluctuating drag is introduced and employed. The coupled partial differential equations of structure and wake are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations using two-mode Galerkin method. Some case studies are presented and thoroughly discussed in order to investigate the effects of internal fluid, axial force and boundary conditions on the pure IL VIV.     

Analysis of wave-induced liquefaction in seabed deposits of silt

The dynamic stress introduced in half elastic space by wave loading is characterized by the equation between the magnitude of half cyclic axial stress and cyclic torsion shear stress and the principal stress,whose direction rotates continuously and compression stress on seabed can be calculated by the use of small amplitude wave theory.With relationship curves of saturated silt of liquefaction cycles and cyclic stress ratios obtained by cyclic triaxial-torsional coupling shear tests and curve fitting method to different data points of relative density,it is suggested that the cyclic stress ratio corresponding to constant liquefaction impedance be taken as the critical cyclic stress ratio which implies liquefaction.There exists a linear relationship between critical cyclic stress ratio and relative density under different relative densities.Empirical formula for critical cyclic stress ratios of seabed liquefaction induced by wave loading under different relative densities is established.The possibility of seabed silt liquefaction and its influence factors are analyzed based on the small-amplitude wave theory and the data acquired in laboratory tests.     

A New Model for Ice Forces on A Conical Structure

The ice force is an important factor to be taken into account for offshore structures in cold regions, and the calculation method of the ice force is meaningful for the offshore structure design. The cone is now used as an optimal ice-resistant structure because it can cause bending failure of the ice sheet. The interaction between an ice sheet and a conical structure is studied in this paper and Croasdale‘s model is modified based on field observations. The newly built model separates the ice sheet into the emersed part and the floating part, and the equilibrium analyses are canied out respectively. The bending moment distribution of the ice sheet is analyzed for the determination of the position of bending failure, which serves as a supplementary restraint. The analytic solution of the ice foree on a conical structure is obtained it is verified with the experimental data of previous researches.     

A Linear Programming Model for Seabed Oil-Gas Pipe Network

This paper analyzes the pipe network system of oil-gas collection and transportation foroffshore oilfield development.A"0-1"integer linear programming model is constructed to optimize theinvestment of seabed pipe network.The mathematical model is solved by the spanning tree method ofgraph theory and network analysis.All spanning trees of a network graph compose all the feasible solu-tions of the mathematical model.The optimal solution of the model is the spanning tree with the minimumcost among all spanning trees.This method can be used to optimize the seabed pipe network system andgive a minimum cost plan for the development of offshore marginal oilfield groups.     

The Statistical Relation of Shear Velocity with Soil Properties

Shear velocity is an important index for evaluating soil dynamic properties of the site.In thispaper,the statistical relation of shear velocity with soil properties is set up by statistical analysis of shearvelocities and relevant soil properties measured in Tianjin and Shanghai.The obtained formula has somereferential value for the evaluation and classification of the site in offshore areas of China.