Lateral Soil Resistance for On-bottom Pipeline Design on Clayey Seabed

Abstract

A series of physical model tests were conducted to investigate the lateral resistance of a partially embedded pipe in soft clay under various embedment and loading conditions at both small and large lateral displacements. Computational limit analyses using a technique called Discontinuity Layout Optimisation (DLO) were conducted to back-analyse and compare with the experimental results. It was found that pipes with different over-penetration ratios show different failure modes and pipe trajectories during lateral movements. Based on the numerical and experimental results, a set of design equations are proposed for the predictions of the lateral resistance of a partially embedded pipe under combined vertical and horizontal loads, which can be used by pipeline engineers to predict the post-buckling configuration given the structural properties of the pipeline.