Pipeline Stability

Jona Johari
Jakarta, 03 April 2014
 Table of contents

Introduction to pipeline stability

Environmental loads
Waves and currents
Basic hydrodynamics
Drag, lift and inertia
Geotechnical considerations
Stability analysis Methods
Pipeline stabilisation methods
Lessons Learned
Project Cost

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 Introduction

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 Learning Objectives

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Introduction What is pipeline stability
design?
Interaction of hydrodynamic and restraining forces

Lift Force
Wave + Current

Pipe Weight Horizontal Force

Soil Resistance

PROVIDE sufficient restraining forces to satisfy stability acceptance criteria

Introduction What is pipeline stability
design?
Interaction of hydrodynamic and restraining forces

Lift Force
Wave + Current

Pipe Weight Horizontal Force

Soil Resistance

PROVIDE sufficient restraining forces to satisfy stability acceptance criteria

 Stability Acceptance Criteria

Absolute stability (no movement)

Why is no movement allowed?
Too conservative
Acceptable amount of movement
Pipeline movement within pipeline corridor
Pipeline integrity stress/strain checks
Coating damage/deterioration
Ruptured girth welds
Damage to surrounding structures
 Loading and Resistance

Hydrodynamic loading
Waves (oscillatory) & steady current
Wave spreading & directionality
Seabed roughness (boundary layer effects)

Seabed Soil resistance

Coulomb friction
Pipe embedment (passive soil resistance)
History dependent (captured in 3D analysis)
Pipe submerged weight (lowest contents density)
Wave and Current Loads

Accurate design current velocities are vital

20% error in velocity 40% error in loads

Steady Wave-induced
current component current component

Design current

Form of analysis influenced by data available

Field-measured current data
Statistical extrapolation
Steady Currents

Ocean currents arise from

Tidal flow (harmonic, regular and predictable)
Randomly occurring meteorological effects (wind, barometric pressure)
Residual effects (ocean drifts, density currents, turbidity currents, river
discharges, storm surge)
Theoretical computation difficult
Heavy reliance on field measurements
Data required
Field-measured current data
Velocities, directions at regular intervals (10 minutes)
Surface tide and wind velocity data
 Steady Currents

Measurement Techniques
Current meters: Impellers, acoustic, electromagnetic
Mounted on taut wire mooring system
Seabed anchor, buoy beneath surface
Surface vessel retrieval
Current measurements through water column
Seabed, mid-depth, surface
Determine velocity profile
Data sampling and record duration
Separate tidal, residual current design current
Error sources
Data set length, extrapolation error from short data
sets, local flow disturbances, height error, wave-orbital
motion
 Steady Currents

Design steady current conservatively taken

at top of pipe
Account for velocity profile near the seabed
1/7th Power Law Velocity Profile

1/ 7
y
u u1
y
1

y
 Design Wave Prediction

Strongly influences design process

Analysis of wave records to produce
Design wave (rare occurrence: 100yr, 1000yr)
Wave height, direction and period
Wave spectrum (spectral parameters)
Extreme wave prediction (extremal statistics) of existing wave data
Numerical hindcasting
Australia: wave data sets extent 25-35 years
North Sea (50+ years)
Wave records
10 minute record every 3 hours (1 full year)
Wave height, time interval
 Design Wave Prediction

Measurement techniques
Visually based observations, wave-rider buoys, pressure transducers
Wave terminology
Wave height, wave period
Wave orbital velocity

Wave height and length definition Wave orbital velocity

Dynamics of Marine Structures, 1978

Dynamics of Marine Structures, 1978

 Wave Parameters - At the Surface

Hs - significant wave = mean of 1/3 largest waves

Hmax - maximum wave

Hmax
 Which Wave to Apply?

Dependent upon Acceptance Criteria

Absolute stability (no movement)

- Use Hmax
- Ensure absolute stability for all waves
Acceptable amount of movement
- Too conservative to apply Hmax along entire route - why?
- Hs shown to be acceptable from testing/experience
- Hs can be used to generate complete seastate in complex
spectral analysis
 Wave Transformation - From Surface to Seabed

SURFACE PARAMETERS

- Wave height
- Wave period
- Water depth
- Directionality

CHOOSE APPROPRIATE
WAVE THEORY
- Linear Airy
- Stokes Order n
- Stream Function

DEPTH DEPENDENT
PARAMETERS
- Wave orbital velocities
- Wave orbital
accelerations
API RP2A LRFD
 Linear Airy Wave Theory

Most commonly used

For intermediate/deep water

Small amplitude, sinusoidal model

Easy to apply; reasonable accuracy

H gT cosh 2 z d
u cos
2 L cosh 2d / L
u gH cosh 2 z d / L
sin
t L cosh 2d / L
Stokes (higher order Linear Airy)
- More accurate

Stream Function
Wave orbital velocity
varies with phase angle
- Shallow and deep water
- More computational power
Max acceleration

Max velocity
 Worst Case Directionality

Perpendicular (at 90o) to pipeline bearing

Angel
Lambert-Hermes
Crossing

NRA 30 Pipeline

1TL to shore
 Combination of Wave and Current Components

Uw

Uw @ W
Steady current component usually
Due to Hs lags or precedes wave component
Find time of maximum water velocity
due to combination of wave-induced
Uc t and steady current components at the
Uc @ W
seabed
Due steady WEL terms this 'Time W'
current

Data presented in this way joint

Uw+Uc t probability
Uw+Uc @ W
Combined

Time W t
 Presenting Design Environmental Data

METOCEAN REPORT

Records Measurements Modelling

- Metocean Records - Wave rider buoys - Extrapolation of wave data
- Measurements from ships (extreme value statistics)
- Admiralty Charts
- Platform Meters - Computer modelling
- Shipping Reports - Current Meters
- Satellite Monitoring
 Hydrodynamic Loads on a Pipeline

Morrisons Equations

Drag: 1
FD CD w D uw uc
2

2 Lift FL
Lift: 1
FL CL w D uw uc
2 Wave + Current
2 Inertia FI
Inertia: D2
FI CM w aw
4 Submerged
Weight W s
Drag FD

Flateral = FD + FI

Soil Resistance
Fvertical = FL

FR = (Flateral + Fvertical) 1/2

 Hydrodynamic Coefficients

Hydrodynamic Coefficients CD, CL, CM

- Wave Dominated: DHI Coefficients
- Steady Current: DNV 76 Coefficients

- Varies with KC, Re and pipe roughness k

 Geotechnical Investigation

Side-scan sonar
- Seabed image along pipeline corridor
- Shows existing obstructions
- 100m to 500m wide
 Geotechnical Investigation
Seabed soil type/parameters for design
Insitu: PCPT testing, T-bar, vane
Retrieve samples for lab testing
- Vibrocoring (disturbed sample)
- Gravity piston, box corer (undisturbed)
 Lateral Seabed Resistance

Friction component (Interface)

- Soil type
- Pipeline-seabed interface (roughness)
- Dependent on load applied (bearing and sliding failure)
- Consolidation
Passive component due to embedment
- Loading history, consolidation, self-weight, time
Secondary stabilisation component
- Gravity anchors, trenching, rock dumping etc.

Friction factors used in design

- Single lower bound friction factor
- Yield surface to model load dependency and consolidation
 Seabed Resistance for different Soils

Soil Type Sands Clays Silt Rock

Pipeline-Seabed
Increasing roughness (coatings, soil) Increasing friction resistance
Interface

- Increasing embedment Increasing passive resistance

Embedment No effect
- Dynamic embedment (self burial due to cyclic loading)

No effect on Increased consolidation Increased

Consolidation No effect
friction resistance soil strength, friction resistance

Load Load causes bearing or sliding failure

No effect No effect
Dependency Load dependent friction factor

Drainage Drained Drained/Undrained No effect

 Sand

The value of the lateral friction coefficient on sand should generally lie in the
range 0.5 - 0.9;
TYPE OF SAND PIPE SURFACE
STEEL SURFACE CONCRETE SURFACE UNSPECIFIED

SMOOTH-> ROUGH SMOOTH->ROUGH

Dry and Dense 0.54 - 0.76 0.76 - 0.98 -

Saturated and Dense
0.64 - 0.80 0.80 - 0.90 -

Coarse - 0.07 - 0.17 0.08 - 0.14

Well Graded - - 0.63 - 0.89
Poorly Graded - - 0.61 - 0.83
Fine - 0.12 - 0.24 0.15 - 0.19
f=36 , c=0
o
- - 0.75 - 0.91
f=33o, c=0 - - 0.66 - 0.85
Cementedf=36 o
- - 0.74 - 0.80

Unspecified 0.5 - 1.06 0.5 - 1.0 0.5 - 0.55

Unspecified
(lift: drag=0.75) - - 0.65

Transition from Stable to

Metastable - - 0.4

Max Value from In-Situ

Testing - - 0.75
 Clay

The value of the lateral friction coefficient on clay should generally lie in the
range 0.3 - 0.75;

TYPE OF CLAY PIPE SURFACE

STEEL SURFACE CONCRETE UNSPECIFIE
SURFACE D
SMOOTH-> SMOOTH-
ROUGH >ROUGH
SOFT - - 0.2-0.7
SOFT - - 0.4
SOFT
BUT LIQUID
LIMIT > - 0.48 -
WATER
CONTENT
GLACIAL - - 0.75
CONS. INDEX
0.5 0.68-0.95
1.0-0.73
NOT SPECIFIED - 0.3-0.6 0.18-0.75
 Silt

The value of the lateral friction coefficient on Silt should generally lie in the
range 0.1 - 0.75;

TYPE OF SOIL PIPE SURFACE

STEEL SURFACE CONCRETE UNSPECIFIE
SURFACE D

SMOOTH ->SMOOTH->
ROUGH ROUGH

DRY AND DENSE 0.79-0.95 0.92-1.0 -

SATURATED AND 0.40-0.75 0.50-1.0 -

LOOSE

SOIL DENSITY = - - 0.58-0.73

40-100%

UNSPECIFIED 0 0.33-0.67 0.1 - 0.73

 2D Force Balance Static Method (DNV-OS-F101)

Increase submerged weight until absolute stability provided (no movement)

Ws FL FD FL
Maximum wave, steady current
Lower bound single friction factor, embedment
Safety Factor = 1.1 min.

Submerged Weight
Lift FL W s = W in air - W buoyancy
Wave + Current
Inertia FI Win air:
- steel pipe
- CRA liner
Submerged - coatings
Drag FD
Weight Ws - marine growth
- min. contents

Soil Resistance
 Simplified Method (Veritec RP-E305)

Semi-empirical strain based design calibrated from testing on model pipes

- Simple to apply
- Not really applicable to calcareous soils and NWS conditions
- Based on North Sea metocean conditions
Simplified Method (Quasi 2D Method)
- Allowable pipeline displacement up to 20m
- Safety factor 1.1 min.
Simplified Method Conservative
Technically incorrect Morison's equation underpredicts hydrodynamic forces
but Coulomb friction under predicts soil resistance (no burial included)
The method should not be modified in any way without giving due consideration to
all variables
Generalised Method (Veritec RP-E305)

Based upon the results of dynamic analysis

Quasi 3D method
Limited applicability
- Not applicable for small OD 0.4m
- Absolute stability or movement allowed
- for sands 0.6 0.7 only
- Strain checks
Useful for simple checks to quantify approximate level of
movement & pipeline strains
 Dynamic Analysis

During late 80s & 90s significant effort was spent to understand hydrodynamic loads and
soil resistance
Several software programmes emerged for performing Dynamic, three-dimensional (3D)
analysis (note simplified is 2D)
AGA (American Gas Association)
Concern regarding the burial behaviour of pipeline in sand-type soils
MARINTEK - PONDUS & PIPE
J P Kenny 3D SIMULATOR

Realistic pipeline simulation during extreme sea state

Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Reduce/refine results from 2D/Simplified/Generalised analyses
Computationally Intensive
 3D Dynamic Analysis

Generate specified sea

state as function of time
(Step 1a)
Generate FE model of Generate seabed to
pipeline pipeline contact model
(Step 2a) (Step 2b)
Generate hydrodynamic
loading at seabed as
function of time
(Step 1b)

Simulate pipeline response

over seastate time duration
(Step 3)

Resulting pipeline
displacement, forces,
moments and stresses
 3D Analysis
Step 1a - Generate Seastate (Spectral Analysis)
Generate 3D surface seastate with time.

Wave Height
4
3.17

Fourier analysis superposition of

W av e W H 1 (m )
2

individual sinusoidal waves H1max j

1

Function of Hs; Tp; Spectral Peakedness, 1

(Energy in seastate) 2.954

2

3

imax t runc 1 s
1 j
imax t runc 1000 s
1

Time
Time

JONSWAP spectrum representation

 3D Analysis
Step 1b - Apply 3D Seastate & 3D
Hydrodynamic Loads

Seastate is applied over

pipeline during simulation
Usually 3 hour simulation
Determine velocities and
accelerations at seabed
hydrodynamic forces

Too conservative to simulate

Hmax on entire pipeline!
Simulate Pipeline Response - Example
 Methods of Pipeline Stabilisation

Route selection
Primary Stabilisation - increase submerged weight
- Concrete weight coating (Least expensive!!)
- Increase wall thickness (should try avoid using for stability design)
Secondary Stabilisation External restraints
- Gravity anchors
- Rock dumping
- Trenching
- Rock anchors
- Strategic anchors
Route Optimisation

Coastline
Route A A
Shorter Route
More onerous hydrodynamic loading
B
More stabilisation requirements

Route B
Platform Longer Route
Less hydrodynamic loading
Less stabilisation requirements

Prevailing wind and

wave direction
Increase Submerged Weight

Add concrete weight coat typically 40mm to 150mm

- Can optimise the concrete thicknesses required at different

sections of the pipeline

- Cheap and efficient
Increase steel wall thickness
(eg. When installation prevents the use of concrete weight
coating)
 Trenching

Remove Hydrodynamic Loading

Plough to create trench
Trenching
 Gravity Anchors

Place anchors at required spacings

Acts as point restraints
Check stresses at restraints
 Strategic Anchors

Pipeline is fixed to strategic

anchor which is piled to seabed
Anchor restraint designed to
provide bending radius to
prevent overstressing of
pipeline
 Rock Anchors

Acts as point restraints

Check stresses at restraints

Sand

Rock
 Lessons Learned

Stability design has to consider entire design life

- Cumulative movement
- Not adequate to design for worse extreme metocean event
- What happens if pipeline experiences lesser storms as well as worse event

Acceptance criteria
- Consider allowable stresses when determining acceptable movement
- Past have used 20m recommended allowable from DNV RP-E305

3D analysis with realistic yield curve soils model provides accurate stress
analysis
- Yield surface captures variable restraint from seabed along pipeline
- Stresses more realistic/accurate
 Stability Design Impact on Project Cost

Single lower bound friction factor leads to more

conservative stability requirements
Use of wall thickness for stability can increase project
costs 1mm WT for long pipeline will increase costs
significantly
Secondary stabilisation requires construction
costs/vessel mobilisation
 Project Example - Pipeline Data

DESCRIPTION SYMBOL UNIT

Steel Outside Diameter D mm
Steel Wall Thickness t mm
Liner Thickness tlinrr mm
External Corrosion Coat Thickness tcc m
Concrete Coat Thickness tconc m
Marine Growth (MG) Thickness tmg m
Steel/Liner/Corr. Coat/Conc./ MG Densities kg/m3
steel / liner / cc / conc / mg
Young's Modulus of Steel MPa
Poisson's Ratio of Steel E -
Specified Min. Yield Stress of Steel MPa
SMYS
 Project Example Operation/Soils Data

DESCRIPTION SYMBOL UNIT

Minimum Contents Density cont kg/m3

Soil Friction -

Use minimum contents density

- Production may be stopped during an extreme metocean
event.

Obtain soil yield curve from geotechnical engineer

- Water filled condition
- Min. contents density
- Different yield curves for different wall thicknesses/CWC
thicknesses
 Project Example - Environmental Data

DESCRIPTION SYMBOL UNIT

Water Depth WD m
Design Wave Height (Max. Wave) Hmax m
Design Wave Period Tp s
Wave Direction w degrees
Steady Current Velocity m/s
Uc
Steady Current Direction degrees
Steady Current Reference Height c m
Density of Seawater zr kg/m3
water
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data
Step 2 Determine pipe
submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic
loading at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data
Step 2 Determine pipe
submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic
loading at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data

Step 2 Determine pipe

submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic
loading at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data

Step 2 Determine pipe

submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic
loading at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data

Step 2 Determine pipe

submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic
loading at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data

Step 2 Determine pipe

submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic
loading at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
 Project Example - Calculation

Step 1 Input Data

Water Depth Data
Soils Data
Pipeline Data
Mechanical Data
Metocean Data
Operating Data

Step 2 Determine pipe

submerged weight Ws
Step 3 Determine
hydrodynamic coefficients
Step 4 Hydrodynamic loading
at critical phase angle
Step 5 Results
Summary

Stability Acceptance Criteria

Understanding environmental loading
Lateral Seabed Resistance
Stability Design Methodologies
2D force balance
3D simulation
Secondary Stabilisation
When is there a need?
Methods
Thank you