Numerical study on local scour characteristics around submarine pipelines in the Yellow River Delta silty sandy soil under waves and currents

Due to their high reliability and cost-efficiency,submarine pipelines are widely used in offshore oil and gas resource engineering.Due to the interaction of waves,currents,seabed,and pipeline structures,the soil around submarine pipelines is prone to local scour,severely affecting their operational safety.With the Yellow River Delta as the research area and based on the renormalized group(RNG)k-εturbulence model and Stokes fifth-order wave theory,this study solves the Navier-Stokes(N-S)equation using the finite difference method.The volume of fluid(VOF)method is used to describe the fluid-free surface,and a threedimensional numerical model of currents and waves-submarine pipeline-silty sandy seabed is established.The rationality of the numerical model is verified using a self-built waveflow flume.On this basis,in this study,the local scour development and characteristics of submarine pipelines in the Yellow River Delta silty sandy seabed in the prototype environment are explored and the influence of the presence of pipelines on hydrodynamic features such as surrounding flow field,shear stress,and turbulence intensity is analyzed.The results indicate that(1)local scour around submarine pipelines can be divided into three stages:rapid scour,slow scour,and stable scour.The maximum scour depth occurs directly below the pipeline,and the shape of the scour pits is asymmetric.(2)As the water depth decreases and the pipeline suspension height increases,the scour becomes more intense.(3)When currents go through a pipeline,a clear stagnation point is formed in front of the pipeline,and the flow velocity is positively correlated with the depth of scour.This study can provide a valuable reference for the protection of submarine pipelines in this area.

Evaluation of the submarine debris-flow hazard risks to planned subsea pipeline systems: a case study in the Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea

The ever-increasing deepwater oil and gas development in the Qiongdongnan Basin,South China Sea has initiated the need to evaluate submarine debris-flow hazard risks to seafloor infrastructures.This paper presents a case study on evaluating the debris-flow hazard risks to the planned pipeline systems in this region.We used a numerical model to perform simulations to support this quantitative evaluation.First,one relict failure interpreted across the development site was simulated.The back-analysis modeling was used to validate the applicability of the rheological parameters.Then,this model was applied to forecast the runout behaviors of future debris flows originating from the unstable upslope regions considered to be the most critical to the pipeline systems surrounding the Manifolds A and B.The model results showed that the potential debris-flow hazard risks rely on the location of structures and the selection of rheological parameters.For the Manifold B and connected pipeline systems,because of their remote distances away from unstable canyon flanks,the potential debris flows impose few risks.However,the pipeline systems around the Manifold A are exposed to significant hazard risks from future debris flows with selected rheological parameters.These results are beneficial for the design of a more resilient pipeline route in consideration of future debris-flow hazard risks.

Theoretical and Numerical Studies on the Coupling Deformation of Global Lateral Buckling and Walking of Submarine Pipeline

Buckling initiation devices/techniques,including sleepers,distributed buoyancy,snake lay,and residual curvature method(RCM),have recently been widely applied in engineering.These initiated buckles may induce a long pipeline to transform into multiple short pipeline segments,which promote the occurrence of pipeline walking.Thus,a pipeline,which is designed to buckle laterally,may laterally and axially displace over time when subjected to repeated heating and cooling cycles.This study aims to reveal the coupling mechanism of pipeline walking and global lateral buckling.First,an analytic solution is proposed to estimate the walking of pipeline segments between two adjacent buckles.Then,the sensitivity of this method to heating and cooling cycles is analyzed.Results show the applicability of the proposed walking analytical solution of buckling pipelines.Subsequently,an influence analysis of walking on global buckling,including the capacity of buckling initiation,buckling amplitude,buckling mode,and failure assessment of the buckling pipeline,is performed.The results reveal that the effect of walking on the buckling axial force is negligible.However,pipeline walking will aggravate the asymmetry of the pipeline buckling and the failure parameters of the pipeline during the post-buckling.

Vortex-Induced Vibration Response Features of A Submarine Multi-Span Pipeline via Towing Tank Experimental Tests

In offshore engineering, the phenomenon of free span often occurs, and the pipeline may have multiple free spans adjacent to each other, forming a multi-span pipeline. The interaction of different spans makes the structural vibration characteristics more complex, which may change the fatigue characteristics of the pipeline and affect the safety of the structure. In this paper, model tests were designed to explore the vortex-induced vibration(VIV) characteristics of multi-span pipelines and investigate the multi-span interaction mechanism. The experimental study mainly focused on the dynamic response of double-span pipelines, and further extended to triple-span pipelines, hoping that the results can be applied to more complex environment. The effects of span-length ratio, buried depth and axial force on VIV of the pipeline were investigated and discussed. The dynamic response of the pipeline varied with the span length. There was obvious interaction between different spans of multi-span pipelines, and the pipe-sediment interaction obviously affected the vibration characteristics of pipeline. The differences of pipeline burial depth and axial force changed the structural stiffness. With the increase of buried depth, the response amplitude presented a downward trend. The spanwise evolutions were asymmetric caused by the pipe-sediment interaction and multi-span interaction. The results can help to identify multi-span pipelines in engineering, and realize the prevention and control of free spans.

Experi mental Study on Vortex-Induced Vibrations of Submarine Pipeline near Seabed Boundary in Ocean Currents

Unlike most previous studies on vortex-induced vibrations of a cylinder far from a boundary, this paper focuses on the influences of close proximity of a submarine pipeline to a rigid seabed boundary upon the dynamic responses of the pipeline in ocean currents. The effects of gap-to-diameter ratio and those of the stability parameter on the amplitude and frequency responses of a pipeline are investigated experimentally with a novel hydro-elastic facility. A comparison is made between the present experimental results of the amplitude and frequency responses for the pipes with seabed boundary effects and those for wall-free cylinders given by Govardhan and Williamson （2000） and Anand （1985）. The comparison shows that the close proximity of a pipeline to seabed has much influence on the vortex-induced vibrations of the pipeline. Both the width of the lock-in ranges in terms of Vr and the dimensionless amplitude ratio Amax/D become larger with the decrease of the gap-to-diameter ratio e/D, Moreover, the vibration of the pipeline becomes easier to occur and its amplitude response becomes more intensive with the decrease of the stability parameter, while tire pipeline frequency responses are affected slightly by the stability parameter.

Analysis on Buckling Performance of Submarine Pipelines During Deepwater Pipe-Laying Operation

Pipes inevitably encounter high ambient pressure and bending moment during the deepwater pipe-laying process,which can lead to elliptical buckling and even deterioration failure.For the safety of pipe-laying operation,available formulas for the pipe stability are established on the basis of the assumption of uniform deformation along the tube length and symmetrical buckling.This method can predict the nonlinear response of elliptical collapse of steel circular tubes for different ratios of diameter to thickness（D/t）under pure bending or combined bending and external pressure.In these formulas,the strain-displacement relationship is deduced from the nonlinear ring theory,and the Ramberg-Osgood constitutive model is applied to simulate the inelastic material behavior.Meanwhile,the principle of virtual work is adopted to derive the equilibrium equations.A set of equations is solved by the Newton-Raphson method,and the iterative scheme contains nested iteration for the constitutive relation.In order to check the effectiveness of this theoretical method,illustrative examples are presented in this paper.Besides,the numerical simulation is carried out by use of ANSYS.A comparison of the results shows that the theoretical method can provide reasonable prediction for engineering practice.

Study on Interaction Relationship for Submarine Pipeline with Axial Corrosion Defects

Corrosion is one of the main reasons to cause the operation accident of submarine oil and gas transmission pipelines. As the major corrosion pattern in submarine pipelines, the effects of corrosion clusters consisting of the adjacent corrosion defects on failure pressure are investigated through non-linear large-deformation finite element method. Typically, the failure behavior and limit strength of submarine pipeline with axial groove- groove corrosion defect pair exposed to interhal pressure are analyzed. The effects of corrosion depth and axial spacing between a pair of corrosion defects on failure pressure are concluded. An interaction relationship for corrosion defects in pipelines, as well as prediction formulations for assessing the remaining strength of corroded pipelines are proposed. The expressions based on the proposed interaction relationship give more accurate results than the methods used in the existing design guidelines.

Effect of Internal Flow on Vortex-Induced Vibration of Submarine Free Spanning Pipelines

At present, most researches on the vortex-induced vibration of submarine free spanning pipelines ignore the effect of internal flowing fluid; furthermore, there are no research reports considering the coupling effect of internal and external fluid with the free span. In this paper, combining Iwan's wake oscillator model with the differential equation derived for the dynamic response of submarine free spanning pipelines with inclusion of internal flow, the pipe-fluid coupling equations are developed to investigate the effect of internal flow on the vortex-induced vibration of the free spans. The finite element approximation is implemented to derive the matrix equations of equilibrium. The Newmark method combined with simple iteration is used to solve the system of equations. The results indicate that the internal fluid flow may cause the shift of resonance band to the lower frequency and a slight decrease in the peak value; the effect will be more pronounced with the increase of the span length and can be weakened in the presence of the axial tension.

Application of Tube-Packaged FBG Strain Sensor in Vibration Experi ment of Submarine Pipeline Model

Optical fiber sensors have received increasing attention in the fields of aeronautic and civil engineering for their superior ability to stand explosion, immunity to electromagnetic interference and high accuracy, especially fit for measureroent applications in harsh environment. In this study, a novel FBG （fiber Bragg grating） strain sensor, which is packaged in a 1.2 mm stainless steel tube with epoxy resin, is developed. Experiments are conducted on the universal material testing machine to calibrate its strain transferring characteristics. The sensor has the advantages of small size, high precision and flexible use, and exhibits promising potentials. Five tube-packaged strain FBG sensors have been applied to the vibration experiment of a submarine pipeline model. The strain measttred with the FBG sensor agrees well with that measttred with the electric resistance strain sensor.

Experimental Study on Free Spanning Submarine Pipeline Under Dynamic Excitation

Seismic load has a significant effect on the response of a free spanning submarine pipeline when the pipeline is constructed in a seismically active region. The model experiment is performed on an underwater shaking table to simulate the response of submarine pipelines under dynamic input. In consideration of the effects of the terrestrial and submarine pipeline, water depth, support condition, distance from seabed, empty and full pipeline, and span on dynamic response, 120 groups of experiments are conducted. Affecting factors are analyzed and conclusions are drawn for reference. For the control of dynamic response, the span of a submarine pipeline is by far more important than the other factors. Meanwhile, the rosponse difference between a submarine pipeline under sine excitation and that under random excitation exists in experiments.

Submarine Pipeline Lateral Global Buckling and Buckling Failure Critical State Discussion

Due to high temperature and pressure,unburied or shallow buried submarine pipelines experience lateral global buckling. Excessive bending caused by uncontrolled deformation may threaten the safety of the pipeline system. Thus,the integer of a post-buckling pipeline section should be assessed under design temperature and pressure differences. This study focuses on the post-buckling pipeline safety assessment.First,a series of model tests based on sand obtained from Bohai Gulf were proposed,and soil resistance to pipelines with different embedment are measured. A dynamic soil resistance model with varying pipeline embedment and lateral displacement was established. The influence of embedment on peak soil resistance and residual soil resistance was analyzed. Second,the critical buckling forces of pipelines with different imperfections were analyzed. A"critical force range"was proposed to evaluate whether the pipeline exhibits lateral global buckling or not. Third,the limit state of a post-buckling pipeline in an engineering case was assessed. The assessment was proposed based on both load control condition and displacement control condition. Further comparisons show that pipelines reach their limit state according to load control condition far more quickly than according to displacement control condition.

Mechanism of local scour around submarine pipelines based on numerical simulation of turbulence model

The mechanism of local scour around submarine pipelines is studied numerically based on a renormalized group （RNG） turbulence model. To validate the numerical model, the equilibrium profiles of local scour for two cases are simulated and compared with the experimental data. It shows that the RNG turbulence model can give an appropriate prediction for the configuration of equilibrium scour hole, and it is applicable to this situation. The local scour mechanism around submarine pipelines including the flow structure, shear stress distribution and pressure field is then analyzed and compared with experiments. For further comparison and validation, especially for the flow structure, a numerical calculation employing the large eddy simulation （LES） is also conducted. The numerical results of RNG demonstrate that the critical factor governing the equilibrium profile is the seabed shear stress distribution in the case of bed load sediment transport, and the two-equation RNG turbulence model coupled with the law of wall is capable of giving a satisfying estimation for the bed shear stress. Moreover, the piping phenomena due to the great difference of pressure between the upstream and downstream parts of pipelines and the vortex structure around submarine pipelines are also simulated successfully, which are believed to be the important factor that lead to the onset of local scour.

Mechanical Analysis of Submarine Pipeline During off-Bottom Towing Operation

The off-bottom tow is an important method to lay pipeline for offshore oil and gas transportation in shallow water area. During the off-bottom towing operation, the actions such as sea current resistance, friction force of seabed, pontoon buoyancy, and tow force of tugboat can cause large deformation and fatigue damage to the pipeline. In order to keep the pipeline in safety, the lateral and vertical defomlations of pipeline must be controlled within an appropriate range. Theoretical study is carried out in the paper on the environmental forees acting on pipeline, pontoons and chaias, and the confimation of tow parameters including tow forces of tugboat, number of pontoons and length of chains. Then the pipeline in the off-bettom towing process may be simplified into a continuous beam with elastic supports under the concentrated and distributed forces. A finite element method is applied to achieve numerical solutions describing the distributions of deformation and stress along the pipeline. The results show that the lateral shape of the pipeline is like an arc with the maximal deformation appearing at the middle of the pipeline. The distributions of stress are similar between two arbitrary pontoons. Moreover, both deformation and stress have the inverse relation with the tow forces of tugboat.

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.

Effects of Internal Flow on Vortex-Induced Vibration and Fatigue Life of Submarine Pipelines

With the rapid development of the offshore oil industries, submarine oil / gas pipelines have been widely used. Under the complicated submarine environmental conditions, the dynamic characteristics of pipelines show some new features due to the existence of both internal and external flows. The paper is intended to investigate the vortex-induced vibration of the suspended pipeline span exposed to submarine steady flow. Especially, the effects of the flow inside the pipeline are taken into account. Its influences on the amplitude of pipeline response, and then on the fatigue life, are given in terms of the velocity of the internal flow.

WAVE-SOIL-PIPE COUPLING EFFECT ON SUBMARINE PIPELINE ON-BOTTOM STABILITY

Wave-soil-pipe coupling effect on the untrenched pipeline stability on sands is for the first time investigated experimentally. Tests are conducted in the U-shaped water tunnel, which generates an oscillatory how, simulating the water particle movements with periodically changing direction under the wave action. Characteristic times and phases during the instability process are revealed. Linear relationship between Froude number and non-dimensional pipe weight is obtained. Effects of initial embedment and loading history are observed. Test results between the wavesoil-pipe interaction and pipe-soil interaction under cyclic mechanical loading are compared. The mechanism is briefly discussed. For applying in the practical design, more extensive and systematic investigations are needed.

Study on Model Tests and Hydrodynamic Force Models for Free Spanning Submarine Pipelines Subjected to Earthquakes

A test rig is built to model the dynamic response of submarine pipelines with an underwater shaking table in the State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China. Model tests are carried out to consider the effects of exciting wave directions and types. Based on the experimental results, two hydrodynamic force models derived from Morisen equation and Wake model are presented respectively. By use of hydrodynamic force models suitable for free spanning submarine pipelines under earthquakes, diseretized equations of motion are obtained and finite element models are established to analyze dynamic response of free spanning submarine pipeline subjected to multi-support seismic excitations. The comparison of numerical results with experimental results shows that the improved Morison and Wake hydrodynamic force models could satisfactorily predict dynamic response on the free spanning submarine pipelines subjected to earthquakes.

Girth weldability evaluation for submarine pipeline laying

Based on the offshore standard DNV-OS-F101-2010,girth welding tests and girth weldability evaluations were carried out for the X65 and X70 UOE submarine pipelines of 3 wall thickness gauges,in which semi-automatic gas metal arc welding （GMAW） was adopted matched with metal powder flux cored wire. The girth welding procedure specification （WPS） was optimized to obtain good quality and cold-crack-free girth weld joint without preheating and post-weld heat treatment. At the same time, porosities, inclusions and incomplete fusion defects were avoided. Girth weld joints were evaluated for tensile strength, bending, Vickers hardness, charpy impact toughness and crack tip opening displacement （CTOD） fracture toughness. Results show that all the girth weld joints have good mechanical performances,indicating that the irth weldabilitv of Baosteel＇ s UOE submarine pipelines is excellent in the case of semi-automatic GMAW.

Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Submarine Composite Pipeline in a Wave-Current Coexisting Field

-A composite pipeline is defined as a pipeline system composed of one big pipe and one or several small pipes. Based on the theory of wave- current interaction and physical model test, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the submarine composite pipeline in wave-current coexisting field (both regular and irregular waves) are investigated. The so-called 'modified diameter method' is used for analyzing the in-fine hydrodynamic coefficients of the composite pipeline, which are well related to KC number. The comparison of test data for regular and irregular waves shows that in the region of 90 > KC> 20, the results in these two cases can be unified. The effect of water depth is analyzed in details. The relationships between CD, CM and KC , which are based on the results of present research, may be used as a reference in engineering design.

Laboratory investigation into the oil diffusion from submarine pipeline under water flow

A physical model test has been conducted to study the oil diffusion from the submarine pipeline under water flow.The crude oil in the flume is spilled from a leakage point of the pipeline and diffused from the seabed to the surface. By the non-contact optical measuring technology, an image acquisition and data analysis system is designed to explore the spilled mechanism and characteristic. The oil trajectory, velocity and the rising time to the surface are obtained through this system. The influence of the water flow and the spilled discharge on the behavior of the spilled oil are analyzed from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The sensitivity study of the characteristic physical quantities to various factors are presented afterward. The spilled oil under water is mainly distributed in the form of the scattered particles with different sizes. The rising process of the oil can be divided into three stages: full, dispersion and aggregation period. The spilled discharge is the primary factor affecting the rising time of the oil particles. In the rising process of the oil particles, the vertical velocity of the oil is mainly affected by the spilled discharge, and the transverse velocity is more dependent on the water velocity. The deviation of the transverse oil velocity is much larger than that of the rising time and the vertical oil velocity. The study can provide a theoretical reference for the prediction system of oil spill emergency.