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Flow around a pipeline and its stability in subsea trench

  • Thermal Engineering · Fluid Engineering · Energy and Power Engineering
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Abstract

Offshore subsea pipelines must be stable against external loadings, which are mostly due to waves and currents. To determine the stability of a subsea pipeline on the seabed, the Morrison equation has been applied with prediction of inertia and drag forces. When the pipeline is placed in a trench, the force acting on it is reduced considerably. Therefore, to consider the stability of a pipeline in a trench, one must employ reduction factors. To investigate the stability of various trenches, we numerically simulated flows over various trenches and compared them with experimental data from PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) measurements. The present results were produced at Reynolds numbers ranging from 6×103 to 3×105 based on the diameter of the cylinder. Quasi-periodic flow patterns computed by large-eddy simulation were compared with experimental data in terms of mean flow characteristics for typical trench configurations (W/H=1 and H/D=3, 4). The stability for various trench conditions was addressed in terms of mean amplitudes of oscillating lift and drag, and the reduction factor for each case was suggested for pipeline design.

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Abbreviations

C o :

Sound speed

C D :

Drag coefficient

C fg :

Cross-correlation coefficient

C L :

Lift coefficient

C s :

Smagorinsky constant

D :

Diameter of cylinder

G :

Gaussian filter function

H :

Depth of trench

Re :

Reynolds number

S :

Viscous part of the stress tensor

\(\bar S_{kl} \) :

Resolved scale strain rate tensor

T w :

Period of oscillatory flow

T :

Stress tensor

U m :

Amplitude of oscillatory flow velocity

U ∞ :

Free stream velocity

W :

Opening length of trench

Δ:

Filter size

Ω:

Integration domain

δ:

Boundary-layer thickness

η:

Kolmogorov scale

ν T :

Subgrid-scale eddy viscosity

ρ:

Density

\(\bar \sigma _{kl} \) :

Filtered viscous stress tensor

τ kl :

Subgrid-scale stress tensor

\(\sqrt {x'^2 } \) :

Root mean square ofx

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Inha University, Korea

    Chul H. Jo & Sung-Guen Hong

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-dong, Nam-gu, 402-751, Inchon, Korea

    Seungbae Lee & Sung-Wook Jang

Authors
  1. Seungbae Lee
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  2. Sung-Wook Jang
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  3. Chul H. Jo
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  4. Sung-Guen Hong
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Correspondence to Seungbae Lee.

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Lee, S., Jang, SW., Jo, C.H. et al. Flow around a pipeline and its stability in subsea trench. KSME International Journal 15, 500–509 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03185111

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03185111

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