MECHANICS OF LOCAL SCOUR AROUND SUBMARINE PIPELINES

The temporal development is explored of scour around submarine pipelines resting on an initially flat bed composed of uniform, cohesionless sediment. Experiments were performed in uniform steady flows, and the approach flow velocities were just below the threshold for sediment entrainment The study found that tunnel scour does not occur if the ratio of the flow depth to pipe diameter exceeds 3.5. Similarly, tunnel scour fails to form when the embedment ratio is high, such as when a pipe is half-buried. It was also found that scour at submarine pipelines is primarily caused by piping, a phenemenon which occurs when the hydraulic (exit) at the pipe exceeds the flotation gradient of the bed sediment.

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  • Accession Number: 00494185
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: May 31 1990 12:00AM