Assessment of Wave–Current-Induced Liquefaction under Twin Pipelines Using the Coupling Model

Abstract

Although twin pipelines in series have been used to transport hydrocarbons in engineering practice, most previous studies focused on the dynamic response of the seabed around a single pipeline. A two-way coupling model of fluid–structure–seabed interaction (FSSI) is proposed for the study of the soil response and liquefaction caused by waves and currents around twin pipelines. The present model integrates the flow model and the seabed model by introducing a boundary condition of velocity continuity in addition to the continuity of pressures at the seabed surface. Then, the inconsistency between the physical process and numerical simulation can be overcome in the one-way coupling model. Through a series of numerical simulations, the influence of different flow characteristics, soil properties, and pipeline configurations on the seabed response under the two-way coupling process were explored, and compared with the results of the single pipeline. The numerical results indicate that the twin pipeline configuration significantly alters the relevant responses compared to the single pipeline configuration, including the after-consolidation state, amplitude of velocity at the seabed surface, and distribution of pore pressure in the seabed. The parametric studies show that the amplitudes of the wave and current have significant impacts on the distribution of pore pressure in the seabed. The pore pressure in the seabed increases with the increase of forward wave current, while the results of reverse wave current are the opposite. In addition, the liquefaction range around the pipeline increases with the increase of Hw and Tw, and increases with the decrease of Sr and ks. At the same time, the gaps (G) and the ratio of pipe radius (R1/R2) between the twin pipelines also significantly affect the seabed response and liquefaction distribution around the pipeline.

Keywords

• two-way coupling model
• twin pipelines in tandem
• fluid–structure–seabed interactions
• OpenFOAM