Wave induced silty seabed response around a trenched pipeline

Abstract

Most previous studies on seabed liquefaction around offshore pipelines focused on investigating the wave-induced pore pressure variation in sandy seabed, while limited studies have been conducted for silty seabed. In this study, laboratory experiments are conducted to investigate wave-induced pore pressure within silty bed around the buried or partially/fully backfilled pipeline. Results show that residual pore pressure is the dominant factor that causes the liquefaction in silty soil. For buried pipeline, liquefaction first occurs at the pipeline bottom, then propagates upwards and downwards vertically. Comparing with the buried pipeline, the liquefaction potential is reduced when the pipeline is placed in a trench. To protect pipeline from liquefaction, backfill is recommended. Experiments show that the residual pore pressure significantly decreases as backfill depth increases. Fully backfilled pipeline is the best choice for silty seabed. Furthermore, backfill material with coarser particle size than native soil provides better protection for pipeline. In this study, there is no residual pore pressure around the pipeline periphery for three backfill soils (d50 = 0.15 mm; 0.3 mm; and 0.5 mm) tested. Results indicate that for the range of this experimental study, d50 = 0.15 mm is the best backfill material that provides the most protection for the underneath pipeline.