Pipelines/flowlines/risers

Design Tools for Arctic Subsea Pipelines

As the design methodologies evolve for arctic pipelines, strudel scour, permafrost thaw settlement, and ice gouging need to be factored in with environmental and geotechnical data, limit states, and trenching and backfilling activities.

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Ice keel gouging over a pipeline.

Recent studies have estimated that 25% of the world’s petroleum reserves are located in arctic waters. In arctic pipeline design, the extreme environmental loadings tend to require deeper burials, and, because of short installation windows and the high cost of installation, may use pipeline bundles to facilitate installation. Strain-based design is generally used for arctic subsea pipelines because of extreme displacement-controlled loading conditions. This paper discusses the evolution of design and methodologies for arctic subsea pipelines subjected to unique environmental loadings such as strudel scour, permafrost thaw settlement, and ice gouging.Recent studies have estimated that 25% of the world’s petroleum reserves are located in arctic waters.

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