Proceedings of the Eleventh (2001) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference Stavanger, Norway, June 17-22, 2001

Copyright 2001 by The International SocieOyof Offshore and Polar Engineers 1SBN 1o880653-51-6(Set); 1SBN 1-880653-53-2 (Vol. ll); 1SSN 1098-6189(Set)

Seismic Response and Vibration Control for Free Spanning Submarine Pipelines
J. Zhou, X. Li and CX. Ma Dalian University o f Technology Dalian, China

ABSTRACT
The effect of earthquake should be considered in the design of the submarine pipelines in the seismic active zone. Basing on Morison equation, the dynamic equation of free spanning submarine pipelines under seismic load is deduced with the aid of finite element model in this paper. The effect of seawater to pipeline response is taken into account in the equation. Factors influencing on the response of free spanning submarine pipelines are also analyzed. Based on the analytical results, control pipeline response are proposed. methods to

china, passes through the area, which caused many strong earthquakes in history. Therefore, the influence of earthquake has to be taken into account in the submarine pipeline design. However, there is no part of aseismic design in the design codes for submarine pipelines at present. And a literature search has showed the scarcity of published literature dealing with the seismic analysis, either (Wang 1992). Offshore pipehnes are either buried in the seabed by a trenching operation or, when the seabed consists of undulated profile~ anchored between rigid end blocks or gravel/sand bags in suitable lengths in proximity to the seabed. In many cases, the pipehnes initially burying

KEY WORDS: free spanning submarine pipelines, seismic response analysis, f'mite element, vibration control method

in the seabed may become suspended owing to hydrodynamic tbrces and high scouring action. Free spanning pipelines are also Ibrmed when rocky outcrops exist along the route of the pipeline on the

INTRODUCTION The damages of the oil/gas submarine pipelines normally resulted in serious sea pollution. The direct and indirect damage is too great to estimate in such disasters. As a part of hfehne engineering, the safety of submarine pipelines is drawing more and more attention not only by the engineers but also by the scientists. Liaohe oil field situated in the vicinity of the river mouth of Liaohe and Bohai Gulf is an important offshore oil field in China. Seventeen submarine pipelines with the length of 100 kilometers had been built since 1985 to 1995. The submarine pipelines in the area are suffering tgtigne loading due to vortex-induced vibration and wave-induced vibration. Tan-Lu Great Fault, the largest active earthquake fault in

seabed. The vibration of an exposed undersea pipe is considered to be the structure-fluid interaction problem. For this problem, the most important aspect is to determine the reactive force generated between the structure and the surrounding fluid. For transverse response analysis, the free ~anning submarine pipeline is different from the analysis in terrestrial conditions because of the existence of fluid (Datta 1990, Hou 1990).

ANALYSIS METHOD FOR FREE SPANNING SUBMARINE PIPELINES

180

The following assumptions are used in the tbrmulation of motion equations under seismic loading: (1) No coupling occurs between the vertical and horizontal response of the pipe; (2) material property is linearly elastic; (3) the direction of wave propagation is along the pipe axis, and the two principal directions of horizontal ground motion are coincident respectively with the pipe axis and perpendicular to it; (4) seismic loading is exclusively considered, thus the influences of current and wave are ignored. Equation of Motion of Free Spanning Submarine Pipeline (Lapidaire 1985) The model of a straight segment of the free spanning submarine pipeline between two idealized end supports is illustrated in Fig. 1. L

m ~ + CsW + k~w : f~,~

(3)

where m , is the mass of the pipe per unit of length; Cs is the structural damping coefficient; ks is the spring constant; ~) is the horizontal acceleration of the pipe. After linearizing f m a , following definitions are introduced: the

m a = 4DZpCA

(4)

= pC Dlu [
ul: = RMS( (t))
4 D2/3CM Ot

(6)
(7)

f,.,, = 1 PCDDUIu I+

Then, Eq. 3 can be transformed into the following form

I-

Idealized end support

-1

(m~ + rna)# + (c,. + Ch~ )W + k,w = f m

in which m a is the added mass; hydrodynamic damping; f m

(8)

Chi is the horizontally

is the horizontally hydrodynamic

force,. O-u is the root mean square of water particle velocity U(t). Both C M and C D are related to the ratio of the steel outer Seabed Figure 1. Idealized model of free spanning submarine pipeline diameter D to the distance e from the seabed (see Fig. 1). For the pipes in the proximity of the seabed, it is shown that the C M decreases exponentially from a maximum of C M =3.29 for e/D = 0 to an asymptotic minimum of C M =2.0 for e/D tending to infinity The horizontal tbrce perpendicular to the pipeline is described by Morison equation. Thus, horizontal force and current is given as: (Tokuo 1974). Similarly, the drag coefficient C D is reported to vary with the e/D depextding on the environmental conditions, surface roughness of the pipe, amplitude of pipeline motion and so on. For large diameter pipes, damping is small due to the drag effect.
,TZ" 2 ~ 72"

f~

causedby wave

(1)

Therefore the drag effect is ignorable. Meanwhile, ignoring the influence of hydrodynamic force, namely, U = 0 , and denoting horizontal seismic acceleration as //hg, then the equation of motion for free spanning of submarine pipeline only under horizontally seismic load is

+--D pC~
4
in which: p

at

D~,OCA ~
D
is the outside diameter of

is the density of water;

the pipe; tt is the velocity of the water particles; W is the horizontal displacement of the pipe; W is the horizontal velocity of the pipe; C D is the drag coefficient;

( m s + m.)fO + c,w + k , w = - ( m s + m

)i~hg

(9)

CM

is the inertial A generally admitted expression for the vertical force on a pipeline due to wave and current is presently lacking. In the model (2) approximate descriptions are used for the vertical force due to wave and current at a state-of-the-art level. The extra force component due to vibrating vertically can be expressed by the Morison equation. Thus, the total vertical force fVM perpendicular to the pipeline can

coefficient, C D and C M can be obtained by experiments; C A is the added mass coefficient which is related to C M through

CA = CM - 1

(only valid for a plane bed)

The equation of motion Ibr horizontal vibration of the free spanning submarine pipeline becomes:

181

be described as:

NUMERICAL EXAMPLE AND RESULTS

To study the results obtained from the model, a practical example

in which Z and If are velocity and accelerationperpendicular to the pipe, respectively; C L is the lift coefficient; U resultantvelocityof water particles. The f~st term on the fight side of Eq. I0 can be linearizedwith the theory of Borgman. Then the equation of motion for vertical is the

is selected. The cross section of the free spanning submarine pipeline shows in Fig. 2. The outer radius of the steel pipe R o is 30.50cm, the steel wall thickness t s 1.27cm, the concrete thickness t c 6.00cm, the elastic modulus of the steel E 2.06 105MPa, Poisson ratio of steel /2 0.3, the density of steel 7.8 x 103kg/m3, the density of concrete 2.4 103kg/m3. The seismic input is El-centro earthquake wave, and the maximum horizontal acceleration is 0.2g.

vibration is

(m, + m,, )if + (c, + c,,)~, + k , z = fr~

(11)

in which Cu is the vertically hydrodynamic damping; re/ is the vertically hydrodynamic force. Ignoring the influence of hydrodynamic force, and denoting vertical seismic acceleration as

Vvg, the equation of motion for free spanning submarine pipeline

only under vertically seismic load is Conor Figure 2. Cross section of steel pipe Effect of free spanning length The seismic pipeline responses for different flee spanning length (60m, 90m and 120m, respectively) in simply supported end condition are calculated. The response histories of displacement and stress for different free spanning length in center are displayed in Fig.

(m.~ + m,~)if + c,?, + k , z = -(m~ + m,~)f,,,

Discretization of the equation of motion

(12)

The pipeline is idealized to discrete one-dimensional beam elements in numerical analysis. The Hermite cubic polynomial is employed as the interpolation fimction. The equation of motion can be discretized

"Lot J

-L

3 and Fig. 4, respectively. It is evident that the response increases with the increasing of free spamtng length. The natural frequency of submarine pipeline in the span length of 90m is close to earthquake wave frequency, thereby, the response is amplified distinctly.
0.40 F - I -~- . . . . o .... -~- ....~-] o.30 - F "~:.......f " ' i ..... i i

in which [ / ~ ] is the total mass matrix including added mass; is the structural damping matrix; [ K ] is the stiffness matrix; is the input acceleration of earthquake. Rayleigh's theory (Kalliontzis 1998) is adopted herein in order to estimate and to calculate the effect on damping. Application of the finite element principles on the relevant term in Eq. t 3 leads to

FT,

,a...,,

.... , h ,
"

i.,I

0.10

.....................

(14)

_020 L2s,
The damping parameters can be evaluated according to
-0.40 . . .

,L:!
. . . . . .

_0,0 i-I::::liiZil:'l 171 I

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

"

Ota---'

2~colco3
CO t + 093

f l a - - -

2~

(15)

Tune (s)

(O1 + O93

Figure 3. Displacement history in center for different free spanning length

in which (O1 and 093 are the first- and third-mode frequencies, respectively; and ~ is an assumed damping ratio. The Wilson- 0 method is utilized to solve equilibrium equation of motion, and 0 is equal to 1.4.

182

/ 4O

in the maximum value of C M .

) i i i .............i ..............."...............t ............:']:':':'::'::T
:" ~

i l
so 2o
10 -~

.
~,...-~.,~.-~' .... ~(.~

.
A-"*
........ i ........
i ..............
i

........ 1........... i I - ........ i .........T........ i .......... r .........i ......... ......"~i ......... k + ~ - . . - - . . . - . . ~ , ' . . ~ - - : ' - / v - . ' ......... i.-,- ..... . i~'. i' ~ ! I:
...............

,
. .

.~:
. .

,:

..:,

"a' o.os : ............. i............... ',.......f..,,;,.~-'-'.:.:_ A. o ~

o.02

".0~

.................................

-~0
-20

.f-- (;-"

: .l ....... ! i .~ i i F " ' ' : " ' ) ............... ; .............. ?I.............. a . ~ . ~ . n . x e .d ~ p.* ~ : ! i : I /-@~le~l,o~

_~
- .............................. +........ +"
i ....
0
...........

o.ol
0.01

r":.......... ). ! i ............... I..........."t !.............. i!"-I

Z ! ...............t : ; - t
2.2 2.4

I J

!
.......... ~

I"'~

-so
-4o

+.-".~L.i

..........

i-....4 .......
, .... , ....
40 45

i ....
5

i ....
I0

~...~
t5 20

.~ . . . .
25

~ ....
30

o.o,
2

..............~ . ~
2.6 2.8 3

......
3.4

35

Time(s)

3.2

Figure 4. Stress history in center for different free spanning length Effect of added mass The concept of added mass can really simulate the effect of liquid arom~d the submarine pipeline. Added mass affects the response in two ways. Firstly, the submerged natural frequency of the pipe undergoes a change, and secondly, the seismic excitation force is
10.0

InertialCoefficient C M Figure 7. Variation of displacement with e/D ratio and support

24.0
,o.o

.......

r ......

~. . . . .

'

" "
............

.............. .,................ ............. ............. . i . . . . . . . . , , . , . , : . , : - - . : . i : .

~s.o
".o ,,.o

............................. | i .............. i .......... ~:.:.:.: ................. ..[... i..............

.............. )-.:.,,;-"L"i::. ......... i ........... i ............. i ............. ...... b::-i ............. .............

i.-i

r.

.............. ~:............... * ~............... : ............. :1 ............. I............................. [ .............. -7............... :"............. 'T .............. ~ ............. ~ .............. ~ ...............
.............. - ............... i ............... - .............. i ................ " ............... ~.............

altered due to the change in the added mass. Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 show that the displacement and stress responses considering added mass with the free spanning length of 60m in center is much larger than that of ignoring one.

8.0

6.0
'. 2.0
_

....
2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0

i :....
3.2 3.4

2.0

L~tialCoe~nt C M Figure 8. Variation of stress with e/D ratio and support

0.02

Effect of end supports

,~ O.Ol 0.01

Support condition on each end for free spanning submarine pipeline has significant influence on response. From Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, the response for fixed supported condition is much less than that for simple supported condition. It is a feasible way to strength support on
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

0.00
-0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.02

each pipeline end in order to decrease response.

T i m e (s)

Figure 5. Displacement history in the effect of added mass

15 tO
: i :: i ~ i : ,: ,i

CONCLUSIONS

i~ .

....

.,~d

m,~

"="1. ~...... '....... '.......... ' ........... .."'l ........

I.....

From the preceding discussions, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) The free sparming length of submarine pipeline is the key

.........,+..+:....., ...........~............ ,...~......~ ..........~ ..........!......... 0 a~:..~[ ........1 .........i-~-.4 .... :.------L.-~.........t....... i .... ii .... i i.i '... i .... i .... ~ i .... i . . . . . . . .i
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 T i m e (s)

factor affecting the

seismic response,

especially when

-10 -15

frequency of pipeline approaches to the one of earthquake wave, resonance takes place. (2) Practical supported condition for free spanning submarine pipelines is between fixed support and simple support. Rational judgement and dealing with support condition should

Figure 6. Stress history in the effect of added mass

Effect of seabed proximity Inertial coefficient C~ varies with e/D ratio ranging from 2,0 to 3.29, which results in the change of added mass. Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show the variation of response with e/D. The maximum response appears at the moment the buried free spanning pipeline just happens

be done in design and computation. (3) It is difficult to confu'm the proximity of pipeline to the sea bed, however, the influence of added mass must be taken into account.

183

VIBRATION CONTROL METHODS

Offshore Pipelines

to Random Ground Motion," Earthquake

Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vol. 19(2), pp. 217-228. Based on the above analysis, the response of free spanning submarine pipelines under strong earthquake is large and may become the control factor of pipeline strength design. Thereby, it is an important and beneficial study to increase pipeline safety with the help of the theory and technology of vibration control. The optimal span length is a first priority in design. Although in most cases offshore pipelines are buried in the trenches which are back.filled after laying the pipelines, there still exists the possibility that buried pipelines happens to suspend in the action of incessant water scouring and erosion, soil liquefaction, or buoyancy. The free spanning is inevitable for pipelines, thus it is feasible to actively control free spanning of pipeline in order to ensure the safety. There are many methods to maintain submarine pipelines (Liu 1977, Mo 1998). However, expensive cost and great working quantities are the problems for these methods. Two methods are recommended herein to solve the above problems. Firstly, the method of segmented burying, layered filling and covering (Sekiguchi 1996) is suitable for the marine pipelines that are buried in trench or directly laid on seabed, and artificially backfilled. The critical free spanning length of pipehne is computed, considering strength and fatigue failure due to earthquake, wave and current. The length of shoulder span is also calculated according to soil property and current characteristics. Sand is paved along assumed critical span, and gravel is filled on shoulder span. A certain depth of gravel is covered on them at last. Gravel on the surface layer has good capability to resist scouring dependent of environmental conditions. And gravel on the shoulder span along the buried depth can control free spanning if the surface layer is washed out. Secondly, the pile-support method is originally utilized to solve free spanning problem for pipelines crossing moderate and small rivers that water scouring is serious. Practices have provedthe method is feasible. The method can also be employed to control free spanning submarine pipeline in shallow sea. Donble piles connected by a beam are adopted to reinforce pipeline according to critical free spanning length. The method can both support pipeline and decrease pipeline vibration. Although construction technique is complicated, the working quantities are small.
REFERENCES

Hou, ZL (1990). "Aseismic Research on Underground Pipelines,"

Academic Books and Periodicals Press.

Kalliontzis, C (1998). "Numerical Simulation of Submarine Pipelines in Dynamic Contact with a Moving Seabed," Earthquake

Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vol. 27, pp. 456-486.

Lapidaire, PJM (1985). "Statics and Dynamics of Pipeline Spans,"

Behavior of Offshore Structure, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.,

Amsterdam_ Liu, XZ (1977). "Risk Analysis and Countermeasure in Huining Double Oil Pipelines Traversing Yellow River", Petroleum

Engineering Constructz'on, Vol. 1, pp. 10-12.

Mo, Q (1998). "Maintaining Method Improvement for the Segments of Petroleum Pipelines Crossing River," Petroleum Engineering

Construction, Vol. 5, pp. 28-30.

Sekiguchi, K., Matsuda, S and Adachi, H (1996). ''Numerical Study on the Effectiveness of Stabilizing Techniques of Offshore Pipelines against Liquefaction," Proceedings of the Eleventh World Conference

on Earthquake Engineering.
Tokuo, Y., Nat_h, JI-I and Smith, CE (1974), "Wave Forces on Cylinders near the Ocean Bottom, J. WaterwaysHarbour Div. ASCE Vol. 100, pp. 34-50. Wang, JY and Zhao, DY (1992). "Present Situation and Problems on Submarine Pipelines in Baohai Sea," Chinese Offshore Oil-Gas

Engineering, Vol. 4(1), pp. 1-6.

Datta, TK and Mashaly EA (1990). "Transverse Response of

184