Stability of pipelines in trenches

Wilkinson, R. and Palmer, A.C. and Ells, J. and Seymour, E. and Sanderson, N. (1988) Stability of pipelines in trenches. In: Offshore Oil and Gas Pipeline Technology Seminar 1988, Stavanger, Norway.

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Abstract

The need for the study reported in this paper was originally identified during the engineering of the 24-inch West Sole gas pipeline in 1980. The West Sole field is characterised by high currents that generally flow across the pipeline route. It had been found that it was not practicable to apply adequate concrete coating to stabilise the 24-inch pipeline on the seabed without incurring installation and manufacturing difficulties. It was therefore decided to achieve stability by trenching the pipeline, Previous experience of pipeline burial in the West Sole field by the then commonly used jetting technique had been found to be generally unsatisfactory in the very stiff boulder clays that predominated, BP subsequently trenched the 24-inch pipeline in a l m deep trench, using the post-ploughing technique and following a full-scale offshore trial in seabed materials representative of the proposed pipeline route. This was the first application of post-ploughing in the North Sea.

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