Pipelines Stability under Extreme Hydrodynamic Conditions

Abstract

At the current level of technical development of subsea pipeline systems a probability of their damage during construction and operation due to various causes may not be excluded.In the regions of high seismic activity the soil destruction may occur in the weak layers forming seabed deformations. Hazard management practice has advanced in recent years, due to several factors: global pipeline expansion in areas of difficult terrain (tectonic/seismicity; permafrost area, landslides) coupled with a greater understanding of the prevalence of hazard.Formal risk assessment is relatively immature in most industries, including pipelining. A better solution is to establish guidelines of essential ingredients necessary in any pipeline risk assessment. Critical would be identified and it would be left to the operator subject matter experts to detail those elements.This article focuses on the problem of imposing special (seismic) loads; the subject matter of the article also includes the issues of the marine pipeline safety (risk) evaluation.