Experimental study on elastic behaviors of two tandem risers in constant flow

Abstract

Multiple pipes bundled with a certain distance are used for deep ocean development for such as lifting seafloor massive sulfides (SMS), pumping up a large amount of cooling water for onboard natural gas liquefaction, and production of oil/gas. To understand the vortex-induced phenomenon of fluids and the structural mutual interference among pipes in a steady flow, a towing tank test using a model of two vertical elastic pipes in tandem is performed. The parameters of this test are: the distance between the two pipes, the incident angle of crossflow with the inline direction of the pipes, the flow velocity (towing speed), and the boundary conditions of the tops of the pipes. The two horizontal accelerations of the towing direction and perpendicular direction are measured with synchronization. Then, the motion of the two pipes in each direction was measured, and the influence of the distance between the two pipes on the motion from the amplitude and phase information was analyzed. The results are investigated relatively in detail about the tandem arrangements of the two pipes to the incident flow. It is found that the major motion pattern of the two pipes in the tandem case is a rotational motion around the midpoint of two pipes.