Numerical analysis of liquefaction of porous seabed around pipeline fixed in space under seismic loading

Liquefaction of seabed under seismic loading is one of the main points that govern the overall stability of submarine pipeline. However, most previous investigations concerned only with free seabed and searched for seismic accumulative excess pore pressure by solving Terzaghi's consolidation equation containing pore pressure source term. It is not able to introduce two-dimensional structures such as submarine pipelines in one-dimensional problem, and it is also not able to obtain the distribution of seismic accumulative excess pore pressure in seabed around submarine pipelines by such a way. In this study, a FEM numerical analysis method for determining the liquefaction of sandy seabed around a buried pipeline under seismic loading is presented. The empirical mode of dynamic increase of pore pressure under undrained shearing induced by seismic loading is incorporated with two-dimensional dynamic consolidation equation and a numerical procedure based on FEM is developed to assess the accumulative excess pore pressure. By numerical computations, the accumulative process of pore pressure and liquefaction potential of seabed soil during seismic loading is evaluated. From a series of numerical computations based on the presented model with various parameters, the effects of soil characteristic parameters and pipeline geometry on seismic accumulative excess pore pressure around submarine pipeline and along the depth of seabed are explored in detail.