Seepage Force on a Buried Submarine Pipeline Induced by a Solitary Wave

• Main Authors: Meng-Yu Lin, Li-Jie Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
• Series: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
• Subjects: submarine pipeline; solitary wave; seepage force; finite element method
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/8/5/324

In this study, a finite element method was used to establish a two-dimensional numerical model to solve the problem of the Biot equation describing the poroelastic seabed, and to analyze the seepage force on a buried submarine pipeline under the propagation of a solitary wave. The model provides a solution to the displacement of the poroelastic seabed and the variation of the pore-water pressure. By means of numerical simulation, the effects of Young’s modulus and permeability coefficient of the soil on the pore-water pressure and seepage force are discussed. In the simulation of solitary waves passing through fully buried submarine pipelines, numerical results indicate that the smaller the permeability coefficient in dense sandy bed the greater the vertical force acting on the pipeline, and the smaller the permeability coefficient in loose sand bed the smaller the vertical force acting on the pipeline. In general, when the permeability coefficient is large, the smaller the Young’s modulus the more obvious the influence of the vertical force on the pipeline, and when the permeability coefficient is small, the larger the Young’s modulus the more obvious the influence of the vertical force on the pipeline.