Proceedings of the Sixteenth (2006) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference San Francisco, California, USA, May
28-June 2, 2006 Copyright 2006 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers ISBN 1-880653-66-4 (Set); ISSN 1098-6189 (Set)
Axial Pipeline-Soil Interaction
John Oliphant and Alasdair Maconochie
Technip Offshore UK Limited Westhill, Aberdeenshire, UK
ABSTRACT
The calculation of axial resistance of a pipeline is a key component in lateral buckling design, UHB analysis, axial walking assessment, pipeline anchoring and pull-in and retrieval analyses. The level of axial resistance will depend on the rate and duration of pipeline loading, pipeline displacement and on the relative roughness of the pipe-soil interface which is normally addressed by an interface friction factor. The former relates to the understanding that the soil response can be bounded by drained and undrained conditions. A method is described which allows the application of drained or undrained conditions to be estimated for pipelines in clay/silt soils. The main purpose of the paper is to present a method for estimating the axial soil resistance using a relative roughness parameter as well as making recommendations on the displacements necessary to mobilize peak and residual drained and undrained soil resistances. Both un-trenched and trenched pipelines with various types of backfill will be considered. Guidelines for pipe-soil interaction associated with SCR Design have been developed from the findings of STRIDE JIP and CARISIMA JIP. The CARISIMA soil-pipe interaction testing has allowed the development of mathematical expressions for vertical (compression and suction) and lateral resistances of risers. These expressions have been encoded in the finite element program RIFLEX as part of a SCR design approach. The design approach is relevant to very soft clays with intermediate to high plasticity. However, in general, deepwater very soft clays are characterised with an extremely high plasticity. Technip has extended the original work by CARISIMA to these more plastic clays and implemented the SCR design approach within ABAQUS.
LATERAL BUCKLING DESIGN
ON-BOTTOM STABILITY ANALYSIS
KEY WORDS: Pipelines; soil; interaction; clay; axial; resistance;
UHB.
Lay Analysis (Pipe embedment, Route Curve Pullout) Formation of Lateral Buckles & Fatigue
Pipeline Expansion (UHB, Axial Walking, Route-Curve Instability)
Cyclic Effects: Axial Walking & Route-Curve Instability
Free-Span Analysis
Hydrodynamic Load Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Understanding pipe-soil interaction behaviour is important in the design of subsea pipelines for: Lateral Buckling Design; Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) Design; On-Bottom Stability Analysis; and Installation Analysis
INSTALLATION ANALYSIS
Pipe-Soil Interaction
SCR DESIGN
Lay Analysis (Pipe Embedment, Route Curve Pullout)
Pull-In & Retrieval Analyses
Fatigue Analysis
Touch Down Zone (TDZ) Evolution (Trenching & Backfilling)
The main design aspects involving pipe-soil interaction for each of the above designs have been summarized in Figure 1. The lateral buckling solution is very sensitive to soil-pipe interaction. The SAFEBUCK JIP (Safe, 2004) has been the focus of research and testing of deepwater very soft clay to improve the understanding of pipe-soil response. Sands are generally considered to be better understood than cohesive soils.
Figure 1 Pipe-Soil Interaction Aspects of Subsea Pipeline Design Two pipe-soil interaction models are generally used on-bottom stability analysis programs. The first and simplest is an equivalent 2-D Coulomb friction model while the second 3-D analysis model adopts a more realistic non-linear lateral force displacement relationship.
Paper No. 2006-JSC-289
Oliphant
100
