Numerical Simulation of Submarine Pipeline Self-Buried on Sediment Seabed

Abstract

With the process of the exploitation of the petroleum resources inland, people begin to focus on petroleum buried in the subsea. Now about 100 countries around the world are taking steps to prospecting petroleum offshore, in the meantime, the submarine pipeline plays the role of important tool to transport crude oil, it is not only convenient but also be able to transport largely continuously. In order to guarantee the submarine pipeline get rid of waves, tide, ocean current and other oceanic hydrometric elements and keep the balance on location, usually we should put it buried. The common approach is to dig it and backfill then. In the process, the trencher is necessary.
To save more extra expense, people take the measure to load a setting above the bottom hole flow bean which is similar to the fins[1] to realize the burial of the pipeline itself. Here we adopt the bottom hole flow bean technology that China Hangzhou Bay submarine pipeline has utilized to reach the aim of the burial of the pipeline as the realistic basis, what is more, we use the numerical simulation software, FLUENT, aims at the submarine pipeline self-buried on sediment seabed. By the ways of analyzing the modality of the scour hole when there exists bottom hole flow bean or not, the pressure coefficient of the surface of the pipeline, the situation of the flow below the pipeline, to tell the influence of the bottom hole flow bean to the submarine pipeline self-buried. Based on it, we have simulated the process of the submarine pipeline self-buried. Through the simulation we can get to know the erosion and deposition situation of the washings around in the process of falling down so as to show the self-buried of the pipeline which is under the influence of bottom hole flow bean.