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.

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.

SDH-FCOS:An Efficient Neural Network for Defect Detection in Urban Underground Pipelines

Urban underground pipelines are an important infrastructure in cities,and timely investigation of problems in underground pipelines can help ensure the normal operation of cities.Owing to the growing demand for defect detection in urban underground pipelines,this study developed an improved defect detection method for urban underground pipelines based on fully convolutional one-stage object detector(FCOS),called spatial pyramid pooling-fast(SPPF)feature fusion and dual detection heads based on FCOS(SDH-FCOS)model.This study improved the feature fusion component of the model network based on FCOS,introduced an SPPF network structure behind the last output feature layer of the backbone network,fused the local and global features,added a top-down path to accelerate the circulation of shallowinformation,and enriched the semantic information acquired by shallow features.The ability of the model to detect objects with multiple morphologies was strengthened by introducing dual detection heads.The experimental results using an open dataset of underground pipes show that the proposed SDH-FCOS model can recognize underground pipe defects more accurately;the average accuracy was improved by 2.7% compared with the original FCOS model,reducing the leakage rate to a large extent and achieving real-time detection.Also,our model achieved a good trade-off between accuracy and speed compared with other mainstream methods.This proved the effectiveness of the proposed model.

An Update on the Clinical Pipelines of New Antibacterial Drugs Developed in China

Antibacterial resistance is a global health threat that requires further concrete action on the part of all countries.In this context,one of the biggest concerns is whether enough new antibacterial drugs are being discovered and developed.Although several high-quality reviews on clinical antibacterial drug pipelines from a global perspective were published recently,none provides comprehensive information on original antibacterial drugs at clinical stages in China.In this review,we summarize the latest progress of novel antibacterial drugs approved for marketing and under clinical evaluation in China since 2019.Information was obtained by consulting official websites,searching commercial databases,retrieving literature,asking personnel from institutions or companies,and other means,and a considerable part of the data covered here has not been included in other reviews.As of June 30,2023,a total of 20 antibacterial projects from 17 Chinese pharmaceutical companies or developers were identified and updated.Among them,two new antibacterial drugs that belong to traditional antibiotic classes were approved by the National Medical Products Administration(NMPA)in China in 2019 and 2021,respectively,and 18 antibacterial agents are in clinical development,with one under regulatory evaluation,five in phase-3,six in phase-2,and six in phase-1.Most of the clinical candidates are new analogs or monocomponents of traditional antibacterial pharmacophore types,including two dual-acting hybrid antibiotics and a recombinant antibacterial protein.Overall,despite there being 17 antibacterial clinical candidates,our analysis indicates that there are still relatively few clinically differentiated antibacterial agents in stages of clinical development in China.Hopefully,Chinese pharmaceutical companies and institutions will develop more innovative and clinically differentiated candidates with good market potential in the future research and development(R&D)of original antibacterial drugs.

Strain-based design for buried pipelines subjected to landslides

Landslides are one of the key problems for stability analysis of pipelines in the western region of China where the geological conditions are extremely complicated. In order to offer a theoretical basis for the pipe-soil interaction, the general finite element program ABAQUS is used to analyze the distribution of pipe strain caused by landslide through which the pipeline passes. In this paper the Ramberg-Osgood constitutive equation is used to study the strain-based mechanical characteristics of pipelines. Different calculation schemas are designed by considering the change of spatial relationship between pipeline and landslide, and the change of D/t, diameter-thickness ratio of pipeline. The results indicate that the pipeline is primarily subjected to tension stress when the landslide crosses the pipeline perpendicularly, the pipe strain is a maximum along the central axis of the landslide, and reverse bending occurs on pipeline at both edges of the landslide. The pipeline is primarily subjected to friction force caused by the downward movement of the landslide, and the friction force is relatively small when the landslide is parallel to the pipeline. The pipe strain is in proportional to D/t, and this means decreasing D/t can help to improve security of pipelines subjected to the landslide.

Centrifuge modeling of buried continuous pipelines subjected to normal faulting

Seismic ground faulting is the greatest hazard for continuous buried pipelines.Over the years,researchers have attempted to understand pipeline behavior mostly via numerical modeling such as the finite element method.The lack of well-documented field case histories of pipeline failure from seismic ground faulting and the cost and complicated facilities needed for full-scale experimental simulation mean that a centrifuge-based method to determine the behavior of pipelines subjected to faulting is best to verify numerical approaches.This paper presents results from three centrifuge tests designed to investigate continuous buried steel pipeline behavior subjected to normal faulting.The experimental setup and procedure are described and the recorded axial and bending strains induced in a pipeline are presented and compared to those obtained via analytical methods.The influence of factors such as faulting offset,burial depth and pipe diameter on the axial and bending strains of pipes and on ground soil failure and pipeline deformation patterns are also investigated.Finally,the tensile rupture of a pipeline due to normal faulting is investigated.

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.

Numerical Analysis of Deteriorated Sub-sea Pipelines under Environmental Loads

The significant point is the bidirectional interaction technique in FSI analysis while investigating subsea corrosion effect. By this way, pipe environment is accurately modelled and fluid effects are also considered. The effect of external corrosion defects on structural behaviour of a pipeline is studied by creating a nonlinear numerical model based on the finite element method according to ABAQUS analysis program. Corrosion losses of sections are obtained from experimental results and applied to the model. Numerical model is formed by a span of sub-sea pipeline that is subjected to environmental loads. Seismic and wind-generated irregular wave loads are considered as environmental loads. Irregular wave is represented with equivalent eight regular waves via FFT. The pipe is modelled according to two different types which are non-corroded（intact） and corroded（deteriorated） to demonstrate corrosion effects on it. The visible type of corrosion in marine environment is named ‘pitting＇ corrosion, in which the material loss is locally interpenetrated over the surface. By considering this situation, the corroded and non-corroded pipes are modelled as 3D solid elements. The main point is revealing how the subsea corrosion affects the structural behaviour of pipelines on the basis of implementation of experimental results to a model structure due to changes of stresses and displacement.

Response of single piles and pipelines in liquefaction-induced lateral spreads using controlled blasting

Two full-scale experiments using controlled blasting were conducted in the Port of Tokachi on Hokkaido Island, Japan,to assess the behavior of piles and pipelines subjected to lateral spreading.Test specimens were extensively instrumented with strain gauges to measure the distribution of moment during lateral spreading.This allowed us to compute the loading condition,as well as to conduct damage and performance assessments on the piles and pipelines.This paper presents the test results and discussions on the response of single piles and pipelines observed from the full-scale experiments.Based on the test results,it can be concluded that using controlled blasting successfully liquefied the soil,and subsequently induced lateral spreading.The movements of the single pile,as well as the transverse pipelines,were approximately the same as the free field soil movement.Observed moment distribution of the single pile indicated that global translation of the liquefied soil layer provided insignificant force to the pile.In addition,the degree of fixity at the pile tip significantly affected the moment along the pile as well as the pile head displacement.The pile with a higher degree of fixity at the pile tip had smaller pile head displacement but larger maximum moment.

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.

Impact of Improving Design Factor over 0.72 on the Safety and Reliability of Gas Pipelines and Feasibility Justification

Many years experience of the operation of high stress (>72% specified minimum yield strength, SMYS) gas pipelines and statistical analysis results of pipeline incidents showed that the operating pipelines at stress levels over 72% SMYS have not presented problems in USA and Canada, and design factor does not control incidents or the safety of pipelines. Enhancing pipeline safety management level is most important for decreasing incident rate. The application history of higher design factors in the U.S and Canada was reviewed. And the effect of higher factors to the critical flaw size, puncture resistance, change of reliability with time, risk level and the arrest toughness requirements of pipeline were analyzed here. The comparison of pipeline failure rates and risk levels between two design factors (0.72 and 0.8) has shown that a change in design factor from 0.72 to 0.8 would bring little effect on failure rates and risk levels. On the basis of the analysis result, the application feasibility of design factor of 0.8 in China was discussed and the related suggestions were proposed. When an operator wishes to apply design factor 0.8 to gas pipeline, the following process is recommended: stress level of line pipe hydro test should be up to 100% SMYS, reliability and risk assessment at the design feasibility or conceptual stage should be conducted, Charpy impact energy should meet the need of pipeline crack arrest; and establish and execute risk based integrity management plan. The technology of pipeline steel metallurgy, line pipe fabrication and pipeline construction, and line pipe quality control level in China achieved tremendous progresses, and line pipe product standards and property indexes have come up to international advanced level. Furthermore, pipeline safety management has improved greatly in China. Consequently, the research for the feasibility of application of design factor of 0.8 in China has fundamental basis.

Stress analysis on large-diameter buried gas pipelines under catastrophic landslides

This paper presents a method for analysis of stress and strain of gas pipelines under the effect of horizontal catastrophic landslides. A soil spring model was used to analyze the nonlinear characteristics concerning the mutual effects between the pipeline and the soil. The Ramberg–Osgood model was used to describe the constitutive relations of pipeline materials. This paper also constructed a finite element analysis model using ABAQUS finite element software and studied the distribution of the maximum stress and strain of the pipeline and the axial stress and strain along the pipeline by referencing some typical accident cases. The calculation results indicated that the maximum stress and strain increased gradually with the displacement of landslide.The limit values of pipeline axial stress strain appeared at the junction of the landslide area and non-landslide area. The stress failure criterion was relatively more conservative than the strain failure criterion. The research results of this paper may be used as a technical reference concerning the design and safety management of large-diameter gas pipelines under the effects of catastrophic landslides.

Pipeline Flex血流导向装置治疗颅内动脉瘤疗效观察

目的观察使用Pipeline Flex血流导向装置(PED)治疗颅内动脉瘤的疗效及安全性。方法回顾性分析2020年6月至2022年6月中山市人民医院使用PED治疗的25例颅内动脉瘤(共29个动脉瘤)患者的临床资料,25例患者中2例存在2个串联动脉瘤,1例有3个串联动脉瘤。29个动脉瘤分布在颈内动脉26个,大脑中动脉1个,椎基底动脉2个。术后进行临床及影像学随访,评估术后即刻动脉瘤栓塞情况和出院时患者改良Rankin评分量表(mRS),并在术后6个月及12个月时随访进行影像学检查以明确动脉瘤闭塞情况。结果25例患者均成功置入PED,其中15个动脉瘤联合弹簧圈栓塞,14个动脉瘤单独置入PED支架。术中有1例使用球囊扩张,24例经导丝微导管按摩均贴壁良好,术后临床随访中1例(4%)患者有缺血症状。术后6个月随访22个(75.9%)动脉瘤完全闭合,术后12个月随访2个(6.9%)动脉瘤影像学随访中未见闭合,27个(93.1%)动脉瘤完全闭合。结论PED治疗颅内动脉瘤短期随访安全有效,并发症较少,动脉瘤闭塞率较高。

Air-drying Models for New-built Offshore Gas Pipelines

Drying （conditioning） is an important procedure to prevent hydrate formation during gas pipeline gas-up and to protect pipelines against corrosion. The air-drying method is preferred in offshore gas pipelines pre-commissioning. The air-drying process of gas pipelines commonly includes two steps, air purging and soak test. The mass conservation and the phase equilibrium theory are applied to setting up the mathematical models of air purging, which can be used to simulate dry airflow rate and drying time. Fick diffusion law is applied to setting up the mathematical model of soak test, which can predict the water vapor concentration distribution. The results calculated from the purging model and the soak test model are in good agreement with the experimental data in the DF 1-1 offshore production pipeline conditioning. The models are verified to be available for the air-drying project design of offshore gas pipelines. Some proposals for airdrying engineering and operational procedures are put forward by analyzing the air-drying process of DFI-1 gasexporting pipelines.

Dynamical Mechanisms of Effects of Landslides on Long Distance Oil and Gas Pipelines

According to the investigations on the oil and gas pipelines such as the Lan-Cheng-Chong pipeline and the Southwest pipeline, there are two ways of laying pipeline： pipelines paralleling （approximately） to the main slide direction and pipelines perpendicular （approximately） to the main slide direction. If earth-retaining walls have been built for pipelines paralleling to the main slide direction, they will prevent the lands from sliding; On the contrary, without earth-retaining walls, the sharp broken rocks in the backfilling soil will scratch the safeguard of the pipeline when the landslides take place. Pipelines perpendicular to the main slide direction can be classified into four types according to the relative positions between pipelines and landslides： Pipelines over the slide planes, pipelines inside the fracture strips of slide planes, pipelines below the slide planes and pipelines behind the backsides of landslides. The different dynamical mechanisms of the process in which landslide acts against pipelines are analyzed based on whether the pipelines are equipped with fixed frusta, because the sliding resistance depends on whether and how many fixed frusta are equipped and the distance between frusta.

Prediction Model Based on the Grey Theory for Tackling Wax Deposition in Oil Pipelines

Problems involving wax deposition threaten seriously crude pipelines both economically and operationally. Wax deposition in oil pipelines is a complicated problem having a number of uncertainties and indeterminations. The Grey System Theory is a suitable theory for coping with systems in which some information is clear and some is not, so it is an adequate model for studying the process of wax deposition. In order to predict accurately wax deposition along a pipeline, the Grey Model was applied to fit the data of wax deposition rate and the thickness of the deposited wax layer on the pipe-wall, and to give accurate forecast on wax deposition in oil pipelines. The results showed that the average residential error of the Grey Prediction Model is smaller than 2%. They further showed that this model exhibited high prediction accuracy. Our investigation proved that the Grey Model is a viable means for forecasting wax deposition. These findings offer valuable references for the oil industry and for firms dealing with wax cleaning in oil pipelines.

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.

Experiments on Interaction Between Current-Induced Vibration and Scour of Submarine Pipelines on Sandy Bottom

In order to understand the dynamic behavior of submarine pipelines exposed to current and the mechanism of the interaction between current-induced vibration and scour of pipelines on a sandy bottom, an experimental investigation is conducted with a small scale model A test model which can be tested in the flume is set up by taking into account the typical working conditions of the pipelines and by applying the similarity theory. The interactions between the shape of the scour hole and the behavior of the pipeline as well as the flow patterns of the current are detailed, and the interaction mechanism outlined. The effect of vibration of the pipeline on the development of dynamic scour at different stages is found out. The proposed experimental method and test results provide an effective means for design of marine pipelines against scouring.

Power optimization of gas pipelines via an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm

In past decades dynamic programming, genetic algorithms, ant colony optimization algorithms and some gradient algorithms have been applied to power optimization of gas pipelines. In this paper a power optimization model for gas pipelines is developed and an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is applied. Based on the testing of the parameters involved in the algorithm which need to be defined artificially, the values of these parameters have been recommended which can make the algorithm reach efficiently the approximate optimum solution with required accuracy. Some examples have shown that the relative error of the particle swarm optimization over ant colony optimization and dynamic programming is less than 1% and the computation time is much less than that of ant colony optimization and dynamic programming.

A Seismic Design Method for Subsea Pipelines Against Earthquake Fault Movement

As there are no specific guidelines on design of subsea pipelines crossing active seismic faults, methods for land buried pipelines have been applied to. Taking the large seismic fault movement into account, this paper proposes improved methods for seismic designs of subsea pipelines by comprehensively investigating the real constraining of soil on the pipelines, the interaction processes of soil with the pipeline, the plastic slippage of the soil, and the elastic-plastic properties of the pipeline materials. New formulas are given to calculate the length of transition section and its total elongation. These formulas are more reasonable in mechanism, and more practical for seismic design of subsea pipelines crossing active faults.