Break-out resistance of offshore pipelines buried in inclined clayey seabed: Fid-Bau Portal

Break-out resistance of offshore pipelines buried in inclined clayey seabed

Kong, Deqiong / Zhu, Jingshan / Wu, Leiye / Zhu, Bin

Highlights • The bearing capacity of offshore pipelines buried in flat and inclined clayey seabed is investigated. • The plane along which a buckling most likely occurs could deflect largely from the outer normal of seabed surface. • The anti-buckling bearing capacity of a pipeline is lower than its uplift bearing capacity, mostly by 15% to 35%. • Un-conservation of industry-standard design approach is highlighted. • Design charts are provided for the modification of existing database.

Abstract The application of marine pipelines prevails in offshore developments for the transportation of oil and gas products from offshore to onshore, and some of them are inevitably buried in continental slopes with moderate inclinations (mostly below 6°). Regrettably, very limited attention has been paid to the bearing capacity of these pipelines, which generates the very motivation of this study. A total number of 169 200 separate finite element limit analyses (FELA) were conducted on rigid plane-strain pipe sections in inclined clayey seabed, using a sound FELA code OxLim. The breakout resistances of the pipe along all possible directions are explored to determine the most vulnerable plane where a transverse displacement could most likely take place, and accordingly the minimum breakout resistance. Before reaching a full-flow state, this resistance was found to be considerably lower, mostly by 15% to 35%, than the uplift resistance. Design charts that can be immediately used for the modification of existing database are then provided, which promotes the safe design of pipelines regarding transverse displacement or buckling. The potential non-conservation of the most recent design approaches is highlighted through comparisons.