Sacrificial piles as a countermeasure against local scour around underwater pipelines

Local scour around pipelines crossing rivers or in marine environments is a significant concern.It can lead to failure of the pipelines resulting in environmental side effects and economic losses.This study developed an experimental method to reduce local scour around pipelines with a steady flow of clear water by installing cylindrical and cubical sacrificial piles.Three sizes of sacrificial piles were examined in a linear arrangement.Sacrificial piles were installed on the upstream side of the pipeline at three distances.Maximum scour depth reduction rates below the pipeline were computed.The results showed that sacrificial piles could protect a pipeline from local scour.A portion of scoured sediment around the sacrificial piles was deposited beneath the pipeline.This sediment accumulation reduced the scour depth beneath the pipeline.Analysis of the experimental results demonstrated that the size of piles(d),the spacing between piles,and the distance between the pipe and piles(Xp)were the variables that reduced the maximum scour beneath the pipeline with a diameter of D.For the piles with d=0.40D and 0.64D,X_(p)=4OD was the optimal distance to install a group of piles,and cubical piles could mitigate scour more effectively than cylindrical piles under similar conditions.For the piles with d=D,the greatest reduction in scour depth was achieved at X_(p)=50D with any desired spacings between piles,and cylindrical piles in this dimension could protect the pipeline against scour more effectively than cubical piles.

Experimental Study of Hydrodynamic and Self-Buried Behavior of Submarine Pipeline with Perpendicular Spoilers

The spoiler is a kind of device to disturb current and promote burying.At present,all submarine pipeline spoilers at home and abroad are parallel spoilers,that is,the plane of the spoiler is parallel to the vertical plane of the pipeline axis.According to the results of indoor experiments,when the pipeline with the forward spoiler is installed perpendicular to the direction of water flow,the spoiler will accelerate the seabed erosion and cause the pipeline to endure downward pressure,which will eventually cause the pipeline self-buried to form a protection.However,when the pipeline direction is consistent with the flow direction,the self-buried behavior and protective effect is vanished.By aiming at the defect that the forward spoiler cannot be self-buried when the direction of the pipeline and the flow are basically parallel,the spoiler burying aid device perpendicular to the pipeline axis has been innovatively developed,and the hydrodynamic changes and sediment erosion characteristics near the pipeline after the installation of the device were studied based on the experiment.Results reveal that although the perpendicular spoiler cannot generate downforce,it can greatly increase the turbulent kinetic energy of the flow and the rate of sediment erosion.The larger the angle between the pipeline axis and the spoiler plane is,the larger the increase in turbulent energy will be.The increase in turbulent energy near the bed surface can reach up about 70%when the angle is 90°,while serious sediment erosion mainly occurs along both sides of the pipeline with a distance of about 2−4 times the pipe diameter.In the future,we can further explore the influence of the perpendicular spoiler size and installation position on the pipeline downforce and the effect of burying promotion.At the same time,field tests on the perpendicular spoiler burying aid device currently developed will conduct to observe the actual effect of perpendicular spoiler promoting pipeline scouring and burying,and improve submarine pipeline safety protection technology.