WAVES FORCES ON OFFSHORE PIPELINES

[摘要] Transportation of offshore oil and gas is mostly carried out by means of offshore pipelines. Depending on the ocean environment these pipelines are either buried or made to rest on the ocean bed or placed on excavated trenches. In cases where the sea bed is mostly of rock, pipelines can be laid on the bed and anchored to the ocean floor by suitable supports. In certain instances pipelines are also placed on saddles leaving a clearance between pipe and the sea floor. The design of these pipelines requires an accurate assessment of wave induced loads acting on them. The objective of this paper is to present the experimental results of wave forces exerted on a model pipeline, of diameter 5 cms at different clearances from the bed of the flume. Hydrodynamic coefficients namely Drag and Inertia are computed from the measured forces and their correlation with the non-dimensional parameters, Reynold's Number, Keulegan-Carpenter Number and relative clearance from the bed are presented.

[学科分类] 建筑学

[关键词] wave forces;force on pipelines;offshore pipeline;pipeling