Floatation of Buried Submarine Pipeline under Cyclic Loading of Water Pressure -Numerical and Experimental Studies-

A dynamic response of a submarine pipeline buried in sandy seabed sediments to water loading generated by harmonically oscillating water-table vertical movements is examined in the present report experimentally and numerically. The aim of small-scale laboratory experiments was: (1) to record time-histories of pipeline vertical displacements, and (2) to observe a shape of slip surface of an overburden sand body involved in breakout together with the pipeline. A parametric study was carried out in order to investigate the influence of two meaningful factors, that is the depth of burial and the specific gravity of pipeline, on a gradual upward displacement of the pipeline. Based on a numerical finite-element 2D-analysis of the hydrodynamic pore pressure and effective stresses oscillations in the pipeline vicinity, an analysis of the pipeline stability potential is presented, in which all the experimental cases tested are verified. All important component forces (e.g., hydrodynamic uplift force) associated with floatation phenomenon of the buried submarine pipeline are considered and quantified.