Impacts of wave-induced seabed response on local scour around a pipeline: PORO–FSSI–SCOUR–FOAM

Abstract

The problem of local scour around a submarine pipeline is vital for oil and gas projects. Conventional scour models around pipeline practically include the flow and sediment transport characteristics, but they ignore the interactions between flow and seabed soil in the scouring process. In this study, a new two-dimensional model for simulating the scouring process is established while considering the impact of the wave-induced soil response and the associated seepage. With the present model, the influence of seepage and soil response on the modified Shields number, repose angle and prediction of the local scour depth and profile are examined. The numerical results indicate that the influence of repose angle when modified by seepage in the whole scour process is small. Meanwhile, the wave-induced dynamic soil response promotes the development of the scour profile and eventually increases the maximum scour depth to some extent, regardless of the change in the soil characteristics. However, at smaller KC numbers, the variations in the maximum scour depth with seabed properties become more significant.