Deepwater pipelines
For deepwater projects to remain profitable, control and reduction of costs are major objectives for operators and installation contractors. In deep water (> 500m) the risk of impacts from fishing activity is less than in shallow waters, and the main reason for burying the pipeline is on-bottom stability and thermal insulation. Due to high costs in connection with seabed intervention (burial) in deepwater, seabed engineering plays an important role in planning, design and installation of deepwater pipelines.
Capabilities include:
- On-bottom stability analysis
- Identify seabed interventions (span rectifications, pre-lay and post-lay supports, crossing, rock dump)
- Advanced pipeline stress analysis
Typical sediments found in most deepwater regions are very soft, silty cohesive clays or silts, which results in the pipe self-burying into the seabed during pipelay operations. When the pipe is fully buried the pipe-soil interaction becomes complex.
