Some Aspects of the Technology Relating to Submarine Pipeline Crossing of Uneven Seabed Areas

Abstract

The Transmediterranean Pipeline can be considered the most advanced submarine pipeline project that has been undertaken up to the present date.

The project required the use of the most advanced technologies and equipment available at the time, as well as the development of new technologies whose successful application opened up new horizons for submarine pipeline crossings in deep water and across seabeds with an uneven morphology. //1, 2, 3//

At the start of this paper it is intended to refer briefly to the size of the project and, in particular, to the technological developments arising directly from it.

Subsequently, some of the applicational problems which occurred during the construction phase of the project will be discussed.

In particular:

• The problems encountered in the construction of the winding stretches of the pipeline are described. The winding nature of these stretches was directly related to the particularly uneven seabed and, consequently, it was necessary to pass through narrow corridors that were not aligned with the route of the pipeline.

• The problems encountered in the phase immediately after pipeline installation are described. It was necessary to decide if, when and how to intervene on the free spans which had inevitably formed as a result of crossing uneven seabeds.