SEA FORCES ON SUBSEA PIPELINES

methods employed to explore, drill, and develop oil and gas fields that exist below the
ocean floors. This may be in "shallow" or "deepwater". Subsea production systems can
range in complexity from a single satellite well with a flow line linked to a fixed platform,
FPSO or an onshore installation, to several wells on a template or clustered around a
manifold. Pipeline is one of the most important methods of transportation. It is widely
used in fluid and gas transportation because of its cost-effectiveness. In the context of
my research, 'Subsea Pipeline' means any type of pipelines that is laid on the seabed
and anchored/tied to the soil and is located underwater. The pipeline can be of any
type; gas pipeline, hydrocarbon pipeline, water/wastewater pipeline, etc. The target
project for my project will be the Betty Revisit-4 Project, by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd.
The purpose of my research is to determine the forces acting on the subsea pipeline
coming from sea waves and current. For the current part, two forces are acting on the
pipeline: lift and drag. As for the wave, there are drag and inertia forces. This research
will focus on both effects on the pipeline. However, during further investigations, it is
noted that the pipeline of my target project is located in a deepwater site, so wave
effects are generally negligible. Effects of sea forces on a subsea pipeline is often a
wave-current dynamic problem. To explore the mechanism of the effects, a series of
experiments in the wave tank is conducted. In the end, the results will be compared to
the results provided in the spreadsheet by PCSB and its consultant, RnZ and with
previously investigated interactions - wave-soil-pipe and pipe-soil interactions, with
manual calculations as a guide.
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