Engineering ‘Lunch & Learn’ Series

Installation of Pipelines by Bottom Pull

Methods – Project Examples & Lessons
Learnt

By: Ng Eng Bin

Principal Consultant
Submarine Pipelines Consulting Engineers
Future Lunch & Learn Sessions:

2. Pipeline Riser Installation by Stalk‐on Method plus

Overview of Other Methods
3. Installation of Floating Facility and Mooring Legs
4. Repairs of subsea pipelines – during installation and
during operation
5. An overview of Seabed Intervention Methodologies
6. What are PLETs and how are they installed ??
Agenda:

1. Pipeline (Bundle) Pull from Landfall to Landfall

 Preparatory works prior to pipeline installation
 Pipeline installation by bottom pull
 Backfill, hydrotest & Site reinstatement
2. Pipeline Pull from Landfall to Offshore Barge
 Site preparation & offshore vessel setup for pull
 Pipe pull & remedial works
 Pipeline burial
3. What went well & what went wrong
4. Lessons’ Learnt for future project
Project Example 1: Install bundle of 8 pipelines and 2 Fiber optic
Cables from Bukom Island to Tanjong Penjuru @ mainland
Singapore

Tanjong Penjuru
Installation Concept: Build Pipeline Bundle at Bukom, then Bottom-pull
across Shipping Channel to Penjuru, and Protect Bundle with Rock Berm
Preparatory Works prior to
Bundle Pull
Stringing of Line Pipe to form Pipe Strings
Completed Pipe Strings Ready for Bundling prior to Bottom Pull
Pulling Head for Pipeline Bundle
Preparation of Sheet Pile Cofferdam for Bundle Pull
(Bukom End)
Preparation of Sheet Pile Cofferdam for Bundle Pull
(Penjuru End)
Final preparation of cofferdam (Penjuru End)
Final Preparation of Cofferdam (Bukom End)
 ‘Hold-back’ anchor concept for linear winch

Without hold-back anchor, linear winch will move towards the sea instead
of pipe moving towards the winch
Construction & subsequent removal of ‘hold-back’ anchor
for linear winch
Linear winch base construction and arrangement for pipe pulling
Dredging of Channel along Pipeline Route to obtain
Required Seabed Design Profile
Drilling & Blasting Works along Pipeline Route to
Shatter the Rocks to Enable Dredging
Due to Excessive Lengths of Rocks Requiring Blasting, a 2nd
Blasting Spread was Used
Dredger and ‘Drilling & Blasting’ Vessel Working
Side by Side
Pulling Concept
Sheave Block which will be connected to Pipe Bundle
Pulling Head

Sheave block enables effective

pull force on pipe bundle to be
double of the linear winch
capacity
Manouvring Sheave Block for Connection to Pipe
Bundle Pulling Head
Laying of twin wire (from sheave block) along pipeline route, then
terminating on lay vessel before connecting to ‘triplate’
Laying single length pull wire from ‘monkey plate’ to
pull winch site
Bundle Installation Across Sea
Channel by Bottom Pull Method
1st Pipeline Bundle fully rigged up and ready for pull – waiting
for dredging to be completed (see foreground)
Attachment of buoyancy drums on Pipe Bundle on Launchway in
preparation for Pull
Buoyancy tanks strapping arrangement on Pipeline
Bundle
Initial launch of the pipeline bundle
Pipeline bundle ready for 1st launch (note: 2 team members associated
with Intecsea – 3rd one was not at site ; guess who he is)
Pulling Winch in operation
View of Stringing Yard, Showing Bundle Pull in Progress

Commencement of pull

Near the end of Pull for this

bundled string
Alignment & tie-in of preceding bundle to the new bundle
Resumption of pipeline bundle pull after tie-in to preceding
section
3 more Bundled Strings left before Completion of
Installation by Bottom Pull
End of the bundle pull
Arrival of Pulling Head/Sheave Block at Destination Point
Installation of Risers on Pipeline Bundle
Rock dumping, pre-commissioning
and site re-instatement
Transfer of quarry materials to site storage barge, and then to
rock dumping vessel
Rock dumping by side stone dumping vessel
Backfilling trench at shore approach - by rock dumping vessel
(>6m depth) & by clam dredger (<6m depth)
Flooding, gauging, cleaning & hydrostatic testing of
pipeline bundle
Site re-instatement
Site re-instatement (Cont’d)
Project Example 2: Install single pipeline from Landfall at Dahej to location
4.8km offshore & across 4.5km inter-tidal zone
(to discharge treated water from refinery through diffuser at pipe end to sea)S
 Layout of stringing yard at Dahej – notice half cylindrical
buoyancy tanks used (to maximise buoyancy during rising tide)
Linear pull winch arrangement on the stationary barge
Arrangement for transferring load from pull wire to hold-back anchor,
& for winding up cable during pull
Initiation of pipe pull – pulling head transferred to intertidal zone by
onshore equipment, then attached to pull cable
Typical pull during high tide (left) & view of pipe during
receding tide when no pull could be made
Dislodging pull cable from liquefiable soil & straightening it to reduce pull force
Typical activities in between pulls during low tide – excavating soil
on both sides of pipeline and unburying & straightening pull wire
Drums strapped to pull wire to prevent pull wire sinking
due to soil liquefaction
Welding of new pipe string to preceding string during low tide
Discovery of ‘deflected’ pipeline after pipe pull the night before –
the result of reduction in buoyancy spacing unilaterally taken by
onshore site supervisor

Buckle occurred mid‐point

of deflected pipe section
 Execution of Plan B – Splitting pipelaying to 2 sections
• As a result of pipe buckle and inability to pull back the pipeline to repair,
pipeline was severed off at buckle location.
• Pipeline was capped at the ‘shore end’ and partial pipeline pulled to
destination.
• A second segment was pulled until the pulling head just crosses the trailing
end of preceding section.
• Both ends lifted off seabed and tied-in (see picture below)
Pipeline along intertidal zone and onshore was buried using
onshore equipment (backhoes)
Offshore pipeline was buried using a jetsled (white tiger)
 What went right & what went wrong
Item Project Example 1 (Bundle Pull Singapore) Project Example 2 (Pipe Pull Dahej)
Pull wire  Contractor took 4 days to lay & straighten pull cable  Contractor laid cable in 6 hours using pontoon
installation  Contractor surveyed wire & straightened cable until pushed by fishing boat in extremely strong current
fully satisfied (8 knots)
 Contractor checked seabed and removed obstacle  Cable was laid zig‐zag
 During pipe pull, Contractor did not experience any  During initiation of pull, measured pull force to
issue with pull cable move the cable was 162T vs 5T estimated due to
cable self‐burial in liquefiable soil & capstan effect
of curvy buried cable

Pipe pull Each pull went smoothly  Linear winch had difficulty pulling the pipe after a
few pulls (as pipeline gets longer)
 Pull cable needed to be constantly uprooted from
seabed and straightened
 Linear winch broke and there was no spare, costing
valuable time
 Eventually, site supervisors reduced buoyancy tank
spacing and pipeline buckled due to excessive
deflection of affected pipe section

Dredging  Hard soil was experienced that could not be dredged Not applicable
 Drilling & blasting spread mobilized
 2nd B&B spread mobilized
 Dispute over soil data and VO by Contractor to
Owner
Backfilling  Mechanically backfilled with rock & gravel  Jetted down using jetsled
 No issue  Strong current caused delay in deployment – but
expected
Others Crane on pull vessel broke and there was no spare –
vessel was down for long time waiting for spares
 Lessons’ Learnt
For a successful pipe pull project, it is advisable to stick to the
following guidelines:
1. Use a linear winch or similar that can provide constant pull. Waterfall
winches are not suitable as the pull capacity reduces as the wire is
winched onto the drums.

2. Use supplementary buoyancy device to reduce the required pull

force, but it should be used with caution.
• On-bottom stability of the pipeline should be considered when
determining the amount of buoyancy device to use, and
unstable pipe can result in undesirable pipe movement during
and after the pull, and as demonstrated in an earlier example,
could lead to pipe damage.

3. Choose a winch that has excess capacity over what is deemed

required based on engineering calculations. In general, there should
be a comfortable level of safety factor for all equipment used at site.
 Lessons’ Learnt (Cont’d)
4. Ensure seabed profile along pipeline route is cleared of obstacles
and where necessary, graded to facilitate a smooth pull.

5. Ensure that the pull head of the pipeline does not ‘dig in’ to the soil
during the pull by maintaining its level slightly higher that the
preceding pipe, such as by putting a buoyancy device on the
pullhead.

6. It is imperative that the pull cable is laid straight along the design
pipeline route, and efforts taken to remove any slack or curvature
in the cable. The efforts spent on this will pay off during the actual
operation.

7. Where the pull cable has a tendency to sink into the seabed, for example,
due to soil liquefaction, some device should be used to help the cable self‐
dislodge, for example, the use of supplementary buoyancy evenly spaced
along the cable.
 Lessons’ Learnt (Cont’d)
8. Checks should be made of the pipeline route prior to pipe pull to
ensure that there is no debris or obstruction to the pipe pull.

9. Maintain healthy level of spares at site for all equipment,

especially for major equipment, such as for pull winch(es) and
cranes.

10.Learn from lessons of past projects (including those from other

contractors) and implement all applicable lessons from past
projects to the new project being planned or executed.
For more details on bottom pull or other methods of rigid pipeline
installation, refer to my new book:
“Subsea Rigid Pipelines – Methods of Installation”
QUESTIONS ????
Production of Rocks for Pipeline
Protection
Extraction of rocks at Quarry by drilling & blasting
Extracted rocks are crushed to get rocks & stones of varying sizes
 Crushed rocks are graded into various categories &
transferred by conveyor belts to different storage sites
Armour rocks are graded using special chain separators (How
it works is Quarry’s trade secret)
Manual verification of ‘cushion’ rock grading
Manual verification of ‘armour’ rock grading
Load-out and transportation of engineered rocks to
construction site