Unlocking the Benefits of Long-Term Pipeline-Embedment Processes: Image Analysis–Based Processing of Historic Survey Data
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 7, Issue 4
Abstract
An image analysis–based method for retrieving high-resolution bathymetry data from historic pipeline inspection video is detailed. The resulting time-dependant bathymetric datasets are used to inform an improved understanding of pipe-soil and pipe-soil-fluid interaction. This allows better management of existing pipelines and improved design of new pipelines. The pipeline and seabed positions are extracted automatically from the survey video, spurious points removed, the data scaled, and interpolation applied. The data can then be projected in various forms, for different applications. Drawing on field data from Australia’s North West Shelf, applications of the method are described. For pipeline design, it is shown how improvements in on-bottom stability and changes in seabed friction can be quantified for mobile seabeds and through buckling sections of pipeline. This approach unlocks advances in existing design practice by providing quantification of the effects of seabed mobility. The processes and mechanisms that lead to through-life changes in pipeline embedment, soil support, and hydrodynamic shielding can be quantified, allowing design to move beyond the usual assumptions of a pipeline embedment that is invariant in time and space.
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Acknowledgments
This research forms part of the activities of the Centre of Offshore Foundation Systems (COFS), supported as a node of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering (CGSE), and through the Fugro Chair in Geotechnics, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) Chair and Centre of Excellence in Offshore Foundations and the Shell EMI Chair in Offshore Engineering. The authors acknowledge Woodside Energy Ltd., Perth, Australia, for providing some of the offshore pipeline survey data, as well as its support of the first author’s Ph.D. study. The first author acknowledges his Research Studentship support from the University of Western Australia. The first and third authors acknowledge the support of the LRF. LRF helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement, and the application of research. The second author acknowledges the support of Shell via the Shell EMI Chair.
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 7 • Issue 4 • November 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 17, 2015
Accepted: Feb 4, 2016
Published online: May 6, 2016
Discussion open until: Oct 6, 2016
Published in print: Nov 1, 2016
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