海流作用下海底管道侧向失稳特征的试验研究

对海流载荷下管道在砂质海床上侧向失稳的物理过程进行了试验模拟,分析了管道侧向失稳的典型特征.水动力试验发现,管道侧向失稳经历了三个特征时间:①砂粒起动,②管道轻微侧向位移,③管道侧向失稳.利用机械加载装置分别研究了两端自由和防滚两种端部约束条件下管道在侧向失稳过程中的侧向土阻力及管道沉降特征.实验发现,随着管道水平位移的增加,侧向土阻力逐渐增加并最终达到极限值;而端部约束条件对极限侧向土阻力及其与管道沉降量之间的关系影响较大.两种模型试验结果具有较好的对比性,海流引起的局部冲刷可降低管道侧向稳定性

海底管道沉降特性的数值模拟分析

本文给出了一种模拟海底管道沉降的有限元分析方法。在该方法中,海床土体采用弹塑性帽盖本构模型进行模拟;管土接触面采用‘接触对’(contactpair)算法进行处理,解决了管道嵌入海床的动边界接触问题。数值模拟显示,随着管道水下重量的增大,管道下方土体的塑性区域逐渐扩展,相应的管道沉降量也逐渐增大,并明显高于弹性模型的计算值。通过参量分析,还探讨了土体和管道特性对管道沉降量的影响

海底管道沉降特性的数值模拟分析

本文给出了一种模拟海底管道沉降的有限元分析方法.在该方法中,海床土体采用弹塑性帽盖本构模型进行模拟;管土接触面采用‘接触对'(contact pair)算法进行处理,解决了管道嵌入海床的动边界接触问题.数值模拟显示,随着管道水下重量的增大,管道下方土体的塑性区域逐渐扩展,相应的管道沉降量也逐渐增大,并明显高于弹性模型的计算值.通过参量分析,还探讨了土体和管道特性对管道沉降量的影响

Physical Modeling of Current-Induced Seabed Scour around a Vibrating Submarine Pipeline

Most of the existing researches either focus on vortex-induced-vibrations (VIV) of a pipeline near a rigid boundary, or on seabed scour around a fixed pipeline. In the fields, pipeline vibration and seabed scour are actually always coupled. Based on the similarity analysis, a series of tests were conducted with a hydro-elastic facility to investigate the influence of pipe vibration on the local scour and the effects of scour process on the pipeline dynamic responses. Experimental results indicate that, there exist two phases in the process of sand scouring around the pipeline with small embedment, i.e. Phase I: scour beneath pipe without VIV, and Phase II: scour with VIV of pipe. It is also found that the gap-to-diameter ratio (e/D) has much effect upon the scour depth for the fixed pipes. For a given value of e/D, the vibrating pipes with close proximity to seabed may induce a deeper scour hole than the fixed ones. Within the examined gap-to-diameter ratio range (425 < e/D < 0.75), the influences of gap-to-diameter ratio on the maximum values of scour-depth for the case of vibrating pipes are not as much as those for the case of fixed pipes

A numerical model for ultimate soil resistance to an untrenched pipeline under ocean currents

One of the main concerns for pipeline on-bottom stability design is to properly predict ultimate soil resistance in severe ocean environments. A plane-strain finite element model is proposed to investigate the ultimate soil resistance to the partially-embedded pipeline under the action of ocean currents. Two typical end-constraints of the submarine pipelines are examined, i.e. freely-laid pipes and anti-rolling pipes. The proposed numerical model is verified with the existing mechanical-actuator experiments. The magnitude of lateral-soil-resistance coefficient for the examined anti-rolling pipes is much larger than that for the freely-laid pipes, indicating that the end-constraint condition significantly affects the lateral stability of the untrenched pipeline under ocean currents. The parametric study indicates that, the variation of lateral-soil-resistance coefficient with the dimensionless submerged weight of pipe is affected greatly by the angle of internal friction of soil, the pipe-soil friction coefficient, etc

Occurrence of spanning of a submarine pipeline with initial embedment

For better understanding the mechanism of the occurrence of pipeline span for a pipeline with initial embedment, physical and numerical methods are adopted in this study. Experimental observations show that there often exist three characteristic phases in the process of the partially embedded pipeline being suspended: (a) local scour around pipe; (b) onset of soil erosion beneath pipe; and (c) complete suspension of pipe. The effects of local scour on the onset of soil erosion beneath the pipe are much less than those of soil seepage failure induced by the pressure drop. Based on the above observations and analyses, the mechanism of the occurrence of pipeline spanning is analyzed numerically in view of soil seepage failure. In the numerical analyses, the current-induced pressure along the soil surface in the vicinity of the pipe (i.e. the pressure drop) is firstly obtained by solving the N-S equations, thereafter the seepage flow in the soil is calculated with the obtained pressure drop as the boundary conditions along the soil surface. Numerical results indicate that the seepage failure (or piping) may occur at the exit of the seepage path when the pressure gradient gets larger than the critical value. The numerical treatment provides a practical tool for evaluating the potentials for the occurrence of pipe span due to the soil seepage failure

Experimental Study of Pipeline Stability on Sandy Seabed under the Influence of Ocean Currents

Ocean-current-induced pipeline stability on sandy seabed was simulated physically in a flow flume. The process of pipeline losing onbottom stability in currents was recorded and analyzed. Experimental data show that, for a pipeline directly laid on sandy seabed, there exists a linear relationship between the dimensionless submerged weight of pipeline and Froude number, in which the current-pipe-soil coupling effects are reflected. The sand-particle size effects on pipeline onbottom stability are further discussed. The new established empirical relationship may provide a guide for the engineering practice of current-induced on-bottom stability design of a submarine pipeline

Steady Current Induced Seabed Scour around a Vibrating Pipeline

Most of the existing researches either focus on vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs) of a pipeline near a rigid boundary, or on seabed scour around a fixed pipeline. In this study, the coupling effects between pipeline vibration and sand scour are investigated experimentally. Experimental results indicate that there often exist two phases in the process of sand scouring around the pipeline with an initial embedment, i.e. Phase I: scour beneath pipe without VIV, and Phase II: scour with VIV of pipe. During Phase II, the amplitude of pipe vibration gets larger and its frequency gets smaller while the sand beneath the pipe is being scoured, and finally the pipe vibration and sand scour get into an equilibrium state. This indicates that sand scouring has an influence upon not only the amplitude of pipe vibration but also its frequency. Moreover, the equilibrium scour depth decreases with increasing initial gap-to-diameter ratio for both the fixed pipes and vibrating pipes. For a given value of initial gapto- diameter ratio (e0/D), the vibrating pipe may induce a deeper scour hole than the fixed pipe in the examined range of initial gap-to-diameter ratios (−0.25 < e0/D < 0.75)

Steady flow-induced instability of a partially embedded pipeline: Pipe-soil interaction mechanism

The steady flow-induced instability of a partially embedded pipeline involves a complex process of pipe-soil interaction. In accordance with the hydrodynamic loading and the dimensionless analyses, a series of pipe-soil interaction tests have been conducted with an updated pipe-soil interaction facility including a load-displacement synchronous measurement system, to reveal the underlying pipe-soil interaction mechanism. The effects of pipe surface roughness, end-constraint and initial embedment are investigated, respectively. The values of lateral-soil-resistance coefficient for the rough pipes are bigger than those for the smooth pipes. For a fixed value of non-dimensional submerged weight, the values of lateral-soil-resistance coefficient for the anti-rolling pipes are much larger than those for the freely laid pipes. The effects of initial embedment on the ultimate soil resistance get less with the decrease of the submerged weight of the pipe. A comparison is made between the results of the present mechanical-actuator tests and those of the previous water-flume tests, indicating that those results are quite comparable. For the equivalent level of dimensionless submerged weight, the directly laid pipe in currents has higher lateral stability than in waves. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved