Wave-induced seabed instability around a buried pipeline in a poro-elastic seabed

The subject of the wave–seabed–structure interaction is important for civil engineers regarding stability analysis of foundations for offshore installations. Most previous investigations have been concerned with such a problem in the vicinity of a simple structure such as a vertical wall. For more complicated structures such as a pipeline, the phenomenon of the wave–seabed–structure has not been fully understood. This paper proposes a finite-difference model in a curvilinear coordinate system to investigate the wave-induced seabed response in a porous seabed around a pipeline. Based on the present numerical model, mechanism of the wave-induced soil response is examined. Employing Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion, the wave-induced seabed instability is also estimated. The numerical results indicate the importance of the effect of pipeline on the seabed response.     

Non-linear wave-induced transient response of soil around a trenched pipeline

Submarine pipelines are always trenched within a seabed for reducing wave loads and thereby enhancing their stability. Based on Biot's poroelastic theory, a two-dimensional finite element model is developed to investigate non-linear wave-induced responses of soil around a trenched pipeline, which is verified with the flume test results by Sudhan et al. [Sudhan, C.M., Sundar, V., Rao, S.N., 2002. Wave induced forces around buried pipeline. Ocean Engineering, 29, 533–544] and Turcotte et al. [Turcotte, B.R., Liu, P.L.F., Kulhawy, F.H., 1984. Laboratory evaluation of wave tank parameters for wave-sediment interaction. Joseph H. Defree Hydraulic Laboratory Report 84-1, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University]. Non-linear wave-induced transient pore pressure around pipeline at various phases of wave loading is examined firstly. Unlike most previous investigations, in which only a single sediment layer and linear wave loading were concerned, in this study, the influences of the non-linearity of wave loading, the physical properties of backfill materials and the geometry profile of trenches on the excess pore pressures within the soil around pipeline, respectively, were explored, taking into account the in situ conditions of buried pipeline in the shallow ocean zones. Based on the parametric study, it is concluded that the shear modulus and permeability of backfill soils significantly affect the wave-induced excess pore pressures around trenched pipeline, and that the effect of wave non-linearity becomes more pronounced and comparable with that of trench depth, especially at high wave steepness in shallow water.     

Physical modeling of untrenched submarine pipeline instability

Wave-induced instability of untrenched pipeline on sandy seabed is a ‘wave–soil–pipeline’ coupling dynamic problem. To explore the mechanism of the pipeline instability, the hydrodynamic loading with U-shaped oscillatory flow tunnel is adopted, which is quite different from the previous experiment system. Based on dimensional analysis, the critical conditions for pipeline instability are investigated by altering pipeline submerged weight, diameter, soil parameters, etc. Based on the experimental results, different linear relationships between Froude number (Fr) and non-dimensional pipeline weight (G) are obtained for two constraint conditions. Moreover, the effects of loading history on the pipeline stability are also studied. Unlike previous experiments, sand scouring during the process of pipe’s losing stability is detected in the present experiments. In addition, the experiment results are compared with the previous experiments, based on Wake II model for the calculation of wave-induced forces upon pipeline. It shows that the results of two kinds of experiments are comparable, but the present experiments provide better physical insight of the wave–soil–pipeline coupling effects.     

Wave-induced seabed response in a cross-anisotropic seabed in front of a breakwater: An analytical solution

To simplify the complicated mathematical process, most previous investigations for the water waves-seabed interaction problem have assumed a porous seabed with isotropic soil behavior, even though strong evidence of anisotropic soil behavior has been reported in soil-mechanics literature. This paper proposes an analytical solution of the short-crested wave-induced soil response in a cross-anisotropic seabed. As shown in the numerical results presented, the wave-induced seabed response, including pore pressure, effective stresses and soil displacements, is affected significantly by the cross-anisotropic elastic constants. A parametric study is performed to clarify the relative differences in pore pressure between isotropic and cross-anisotropic solutions.     

Wave pressures and uplift forces on and scour around submarine pipeline in clayey soil

Experimental investigations are carried out on wave-induced pressures and uplift forces on a submarine pipeline (exposed, half buried and fully buried) in clayey soil of different consistency index both in regular and random waves. A study on scour under the pipeline resting on the clay bed is also carried out. It is found that the uplift force can be reduced by about 70%, if the pipeline is just buried in clay soil. The equilibrium scour depth below the pipeline is estimated as 42% of the pipe diameter for consistency index of 0.17 and is 34% of the pipe diameter for consistency index of 0.23. The results of the present investigations are compared with the results on sandy soil by Cheng and Liu (Appl. Ocean Res., 8(1986) 22) to acknowledge the benefit of cohesive soil in reducing the high pore pressure on buried pipeline compared to cohesionless soil.     

Wave-induced uplift force on a submarine pipeline buried in a compressible seabed

A two-dimensional finite-element simulation of the wave-induced hydrodynamic uplift force acting on a submarine pipeline buried in sandy seabed sediments subject to continuous loading of sinusoidal surface waves is presented. Neglecting inertia forces, a linear-elastic stress-strain relationship for the soil and Darcy's law for the flow of pore fluid are assumed. The model takes into account the compressibility of both components (i.e., pore fluid and soil skeleton) of the two-phase medium.The results of numerical analysis are presented and discussed with respect to soil and pore fluid parameters where special attention is paid to the question of soil saturation conditions. The meaning of the results is also related to surface wave conditions. As a general conclusion, the practical, engineering recommendation is given in order to make a realistic, safe and economic estimation of the wave-induced uplift force acting on a buried submarine pipeline.     

Experimental study of vortex-induced vibrations of a pipeline near an erodible sandy seabed

Based on similarity analyses, a series of experiments have been conducted with a newly established hydro-elastic facility to investigate the transverse vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs) of a submarine pipeline near an erodible sandy seabed under the influence of ocean currents. Typical characteristics of coupling processes between pipe vibration and soil scour in the currents have been summarized for Case I: pipe is laid above seabed and Case II: pipe is partially embedded in seabed on the basis of the experimental observations. Pipe vibration and the corresponding local scour are usually two coupled physical processes leading to an equilibrium state. The influence of initial gap-to-diameter ratio (e₀/D) on the interaction between pipe vibration and local scour has been studied. Experimental results show that the critical values of V_r for the initiation of VIVs of the pipe near an erodible sand bed get bigger with decreasing initial gap-to-diameter ratio within the examined range of e₀/D (−0.25<e₀/D<0.75). The comparison of the pipe vibrations near an erodible soil with those near a rigid boundary and under wall-free conditions indicates that the vibration amplitudes of the pipe near an erodible sand bed are close to the curve fit under wall-free conditions; nevertheless, for the same stability parameter, the maximum amplitudes for the VIV coupled with local scour increase with the increase of initial gap-to-diameter ratio.     

Onset of scour below pipelines and self-burial

This paper summarizes the results of an experimental study on the onset of scour below and self-burial of pipelines in currents/waves. Pressure was measured on the surface of a slightly buried pipe at two points, one at the upstream side and the other at the downstream side of the pipe, both in the sand bed. The latter enabled the pressure gradient (which drives a seepage flow underneath the pipe) to be calculated. The results indicated that the excessive seepage flow and the resulting piping are the major factor to cause the onset of scour below the pipeline. The onset of scour occurred always locally (but not along the length of the pipeline as a two-dimensional process). The critical condition corresponding to the onset of scour was determined both in the case of currents and in the case of waves. Once the scour breaks out, it will propagate along the length of the pipeline, scour holes being interrupted with stretches of soil (span shoulders) supporting the pipeline. As the span shoulder gets shorter and shorter, more and more weight of the pipeline is exerted on the soil. In this process, a critical point is reached where the bearing capacity of the soil is exceeded (general shear failure). At this point, the pipe begins to sink at the span shoulder (self-burial). It was found that the self-burial depth is governed mainly by the Keulegan–Carpenter number. The time scale of the self-burial process, on the other hand, is governed by the Keulegan–Carpenter number and the Shields parameter. Diagrams are given for the self-burial depth and the time scale of the self-burial process.     

Parametric study of the wave-induced residual liquefaction around an embedded pipeline

Wave-induced liquefaction in a porous seabed around submarine pipeline may cause catastrophic consequences such as large horizontal displacements of pipelines on the seabed, sinking or floatation of buried pipelines. Most previous studies in relation to the wave and seabed interactions with embedded pipeline dealt with the wave-induced instaneous seabed response and possible resulting momentary liquefaction (where the soil is liquefied instantaneously during the passage of a wave trough), using theory of poro-elasticity. Studies for the interactions between a buried pipeline and a soil undergoing build-up of pore pressure and residual liquefaction have been comparatively rare. In this paper, this complicated process was investigated by using a new developed integrated numerical model with RANS (Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes) equations used for governing the incompressible flow in the wave field and Biot consolidation equations used for linking the solid–pore fluid interactions in a porous seabed with embedded pipeline. Regarding the wave-induced residual soil response, a two-dimensional poro-elastoplastic solution with the new definition of the source term was developed, where the pre-consolidation analysis of seabed foundation under gravitational forces including the body forces of a pipeline was incorporated. The proposed numerical model was verified with laboratory experiment to demonstrate its accuracy and effectiveness. The numerical results indicate that residual liquefaction is more likely to occur in the vicinity of the pipeline compared to that in the far-field. The inclusion of body forces of a pipeline in the pre-consolidation analysis of seabed foundation significantly affects the potential for residual liquefaction in the vicinity of the pipeline, especially for a shallow-embedded case. Parametric studies reveal that the gradients of maximum liquefaction depth with various wave and soil characteristics become steeper as pipeline burial depth decreases.     

线弹性土壤中埋设悬跨管道的弯曲和振动特性

利用细长梁小挠度理论,研究给出了两端埋设在线弹性土壤中的悬跨段管道和埋设段管道在自重作用下的变形和内力公式。基于静挠度公式,用能量法给出了第一阶弯曲振动的固有频率公式。讨论了不同土壤刚度条件下悬跨段管道的变形和内力特征,以及第一阶弯曲振动固有频率,并和工程上推荐使用的简支梁和两端固支梁的静动态特性进行比较。研究表明在跨度大、土壤刚度大、管道弯曲刚度较小时无量纲土壤刚度系数较大,埋设段管道对悬跨段管道的刚度约束比较大,悬跨段管道可以近似按两端固支梁模型来模拟;反之,只有在土壤刚度系数较小的几个参数点上,悬跨管道的静动力特性等价于简支梁模型。     

Sinking/floatation of pipelines and other objects in liquefied soil under waves

This paper presents the results of an experimental study where the sinking and floatation of a pipeline and other objects (namely, a sphere and a cube) in a silt bed was investigated. The bed was exposed to progressive waves. Two kinds of experiments were made: The undisturbed-flow experiments, and the experiments with the structure model (a pipeline, a sphere, and a cube). In the former experiments, the pore-water pressure was measured across the soil depth. The pore-water pressure built up, as the waves progressed. The soil was liquefied for wave heights larger than a critical value. Regarding the experiments with the structure model, the displacement of the structure (sinking or floatation) was measured simultaneously with the pore-water pressure. The influence of various parameters (such as the initial position of the object, the specific gravity, the soil layer thickness, and the wave height) was investigated. It was found that while the pipe sank in the soil to a depth of 2–3 times the pipe diameter, the sphere sank to even larger depths. The pipe with a relatively small specific gravity, initially buried, floated to the surface of the soil. The drag coefficients for the objects sinking in the liquefied soil were obtained.     

波浪作用下孔隙海床-管线动力相互作用分析

波浪作用下海床中的孔隙水压力与有效应力是影响海底管线稳定性的主要因素。然而,在目前的海床响应分析中一般将管线假定为刚性,并不能合理地考虑海床与管线之间的相互作用效应,同时也没有考虑土体和管线加速度对海床动力响应的惯性影响,从而无法确定由此所引起的管线内应力。为此考虑管线的柔性,分别采用饱和孔隙介质的Biot动力固结理论和弹性动力学理论列出了海床与管线的控制方程,进而采用摩擦接触理论考虑海床与管线之间的相互作用效应,基于有限元方法建立了海床-管线相互作用的计算模型及其数值算法。通过变动参数对比计算讨论了管线几何尺寸、海床土性参数对波浪所引起的管线周围海床孔隙水压力和管线内应力的影响。     

后挖沟深度对深海海底管道屈曲影响数值分析

鉴于海底管道的服役水深越来越深,主要采用犁式挖沟机对预铺设于海床之上的海底管道采取后挖沟的方式将海底管道埋设于海床之下,以保护其免受不必要的损伤。针对后挖沟深度H是海底挖沟机的重要设计参数,也是影响管道悬跨的重要因素的问题,对SMD(UK)犁式挖沟机展开参数优化,确保作业过程中悬跨段管道在外部静水压力作用下,海底管道不会发生屈曲破坏。采用ABAQUS软件,分别建立了作业前和作业中两种工况下的悬跨模型,分析机械手对接触部分管道的损伤,结果显示,作业中的机械手对悬跨管道的损伤更大;同时,建立了作业中不同管径下,后挖沟深度对管道损伤的安全裕量关系曲线。进一步,结合作业中不同挖沟深度下的管跨段屈曲数值模型,对处于外部静水压力作用下的悬跨管的屈曲失效展开分析,结果显示,随着后挖沟深度的加大,不同管径下的悬跨段管道局部出现塑性压溃的临界压力值不断降低;管道外径的增大,降低了同一后挖沟深度下发生屈曲失效的压力值。最后,在后挖沟深度与外部静水压力组成的区域内,建立屈曲失效临界关系曲线,并划分出工作区和压溃区,为深海管道后挖沟埋管的施工提供工程参考。     

Response of a porous seabed around breakwater heads

The evaluation of wave-induced pore pressures and effective stresses in a porous seabed near a breakwater head is important for coastal engineers involved in the design of marine structures. Most previous studies have been limited to two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) cases in front of a breakwater. In this study, we focus on the problem near breakwater heads that consists of incident, reflected and diffracted waves. Both wave-induced oscillatory and residual liquefactions will be considered in our new models. The mistake in the previous work [Jeng, D.-S., 1996. Wave-induced liquefaction potential at the tip of a breakwater. Applied Ocean Research 18(5), 229–241] for oscillatory mechanism is corrected, while a new 3D boundary value problem describing residual mechanism is established. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the influences of several wave and soil parameters on wave-induced oscillatory and residual liquefactions around breakwater heads.     

Prediction of natural processes by the method of adaptive balance of causes

The problem of estimation of the future values of processes is studied as a problem of their adaptation to the known data of observations in the past. The method of adaptive balance of causes (ABC-method) is used for the construction of a dynamic model of the coefficients of influence. This model enables one to compute the current values of these coefficients according to the current correlation matrix determined as a result of reanalysis of the observed processes. We propose an ABC-model with variable coefficients of influence guaranteeing the optimal (from the viewpoint of accuracy) prediction of natural processes and present an example of its application.Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 5, pp. 53–63, September–October, 2004.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to cover date.     

Wave-induced pore pressure around a composite breakwater

The interaction between wave, seabed and marine structure is a vital issue in coastal engineering, as well as marine geotechnical engineering. However, most previous investigations have been focused on the wave forces acting on the structure from the aspect of hydrodynamics. In this study, we will examine the problem of wave-seabed-caisson interaction from the aspect of marine geotechnical engineering. Based on Biot's poro-elastic theory (Biot, M.A., 1941. General theory of three-dimensional consolidation. Journal of Applied Physics 12, 155–164), a two-dimensional finite element model is proposed to investigate the wave-induced soil response in the vicinity of a caisson. Based on the numerical model, the water wave driven pore pressure around a caisson will be examined through a parametric analysis.     

Lateral Global Buckling of Submarine Pipelines Based on the Model of Nonlinear Pipe–Soil Interaction

With the increasing development and utilization of offshore oil and gas resources, global buckling failures of pipelines subjected to high temperature and high pressure are becoming increasingly important. For unburied or semi-buried submarine pipelines, lateral global buckling represents the main form of global buckling. The pipe–soil interaction determines the deformation and stress distribution of buckling pipelines. In this paper, the nonlinear pipe–soil interaction model is introduced into the analysis of pipeline lateral global buckling, a coupling method of PSI elements and the modified RIKS algorithm is proposed to study the lateral global buckling of a pipeline, and the buckling characteristics of submarine pipeline with a single arch symmetric initial imperfection under different pipe–soil interaction models are studied. Research shows that, compared with the ideal elastic–plastic pipe–soil interaction model, when the DNV-RP-F109 model is adopted to simulate the lateral pipe–soil interactions in the lateral global buckling of a pipeline, the buckling amplitude increases, however, the critical buckling force and the initial buckling temperature difference decreases. In the DNV-RP-F109 pipe–soil interaction model, the maximum soil resistance, the residual soil resistance, and the displacement to reach the maximum soil resistance have significant effects on the analysis results of pipeline global buckling.     

An experimental study of seabed responses around a marine pipeline under wave and current conditions

Experiments on three types of soil (d₅₀=0.287, 0.057 and 0.034 mm) with pipeline(D=4 cm) either half buried or resting on the seabed under regular wave or combined with current actions were conducted in a large wave flume to investigate characteristics of soil responses. The pore pressures were measured through the soil depth and across the pipeline. When pipeline is present the measured pore pressures in sandy soil nearby the pipeline deviate considerably from that predicted by the poro-elasticity theory. The buried pipeline seems to provide a degree of resistance to soil liquefaction in the two finer soil seabeds. In the silt bed, a negative power relationship was found between maximum values of excess pore pressure p_max and test intervals under the same wave conditions due to soil densification and dissipation of the pore pressure. In the case of wave combined with current, pore pressures in sandy soil show slightly decrease with time, whereas in silt soil, the current causes an increase in the excess pore pressure build-up, especially at the deeper depth. Comparing liquefaction depth with scour depth underneath the pipeline indicates that the occurrence of liquefaction is accompanied with larger scour depth under the same pipeline-bed configuration.     

An integrated three-dimensional model of wave-induced pore pressure and effective stresses in a porous seabed: II. Breaking waves

The evaluation of the wave-induced liquefaction potential is particularly important for coastal engineers involved in the design of marine structures. Most previous investigations of the wave-induced liquefaction have been limited to two-dimensional non-breaking waves. In this paper, the integrated three-dimensional poro-elastic model for the wave-seabed interaction proposed by [Zhang, H., Jeng, D.-S., 2005. An integrated three-dimensional model of wave-induced pore pressure and effective stresses in a porous seabed: I. A sloping seabed. Ocean Engineering 32(5/6), 701–729.] is further extended to simulate the seabed liquefaction potential with breaking wave loading. Based on the parametric study, we conclude: (1) the liquefaction depth due to breaking waves is smaller than that of due to non-breaking waves; (2) the degree of saturation significantly affects the wave-induced liquefaction depth, and no liquefaction occurs in full saturated seabed, and (3) soil permeability does not only significantly affect the pore pressure, but also the shear stresses distribution.     

Experimental investigation on the wave-induced pore pressure around shallowly embedded pipelines

A series of regular wave experiments have been done in a large-scale wave flume to investigate the wave-induced pore pressure around the submarine shallowly embedded pipelines.The model pipelines are buried in three kinds of soils,including gravel,sand and silt with different burial depth.The input waves change with height and period.The results show that the amplitudes of wave-induced pore pressure increase as the wave period increase,and decay from the surface to the bottom of seabed.Higher pore pressures are recorded at the pipeline top and the lower pore pressures at the bottom,especially in the sand seabed.The normalized pressure around pipeline decreases as the relative water depth,burial depth or scattering parameters increase.For the silt seabed,the wavelet transform has been successfully used to analyze the signals of wave-induced pore pressure,and the oscillatory and residual pore pressure can be extracted by wavelet analysis.Higher oscillatory pressures are recorded at the bottom and the lower pressures at the top of the pipeline.However,higher residual pressures are recorded at the top and the lower pressures at the bottom of the pipeline.