Response of subsea pipelines to ice-induced geohazards

海底管道是纽芬兰近海和其他恶劣海洋环境中油气田开发的关键要素和组成部分。在寒冷的沃茨中，海底管道面临的最大风险之一是冰引起的海床冲刷。保护措施，如挖沟或埋设管道，是避免与冰沟直接相互作用的最实用和最具成本效益的解决方案。然而，估计最小可靠埋深以获得足够的管道保护水平，以及使用暴露的管道以消除巨大的海底挖沟成本，是具有挑战性的技术问题。答案依赖于更好地了解复杂的冰凿过程，特别是潜槽土壤变形。在过去的20年里，已经进行了大量的研究，以促进行业对冰凿的理解。但是，冰凿问题仍然存在许多不确定性，最近被确定为知识空白（NRC-PERD（2014），BSEE-WGK（2015）。该研究计划的重点是解决关键的知识差距，提高我们对海底管道在恶劣海洋环境中变形的理解。拟议的研究计划的方法在于先进的数值研究和离心模型试验，通过针对大变形海底地质灾害的管道响应的评估。该项目涉及17名HQP（6名博士，4名工程硕士，4名工程学士和3名PDF）。这些成果对行业合作伙伴伍德集团及其为纽芬兰大浅滩等冰凿环境安全设计海上管道的能力有直接的好处。伍德集团将通过改进冰沟环境中管道的设计和生命周期完整性管理，将成果融入其运营中。因此，拟议的研究计划与伍德集团和其他在该领域工作的人所面临的技术挑战和需求保持一致 离岸工业的。通过这项研究计划，我们的团队和行业合作伙伴将能够在工程软件工具中实施和应用结果，用于分析和设计纽芬兰和其他地方冰沟环境的海上管道。

Subsea pipelines are a key element and component of oil and gas field developments in offshore Newfoundland and other harsh ocean environments. One of the most significant risks to subsea pipelines in cold waters is ice-induced scour in the seabed. Protection such as trenching or burial of the pipeline is the most practical and cost effective solution to avoid direct interaction with an ice gouge. However, estimating the minimum reliable burial depth to obtain a sufficient level of pipeline protection, and using exposed pipelines to eliminate the large subsea trenching costs, are challenging technical problem. The answers rely on a better understanding of complex ice gouging processes and particularly subgouge soil deformation. In the past 20 years, numerous research studies have been conducted to advance the industry's understanding of ice gouging. But there are still many uncertainties in ice gouge problems that were recently identified as knowledge gaps (NRC-PERD (2014), BSEE-WGK (2015). This research program focuses on addressing key knowledge gaps and improving our understanding of subsea pipeline deformation in harsh ocean environments. The approach of the proposed research program lies in both advanced numerical studies and centrifuge model testing, by targeting the assessment of the pipeline response to large deformation subsea geohazards. The project involves a team of 17 HQP (6 PhD, 4 MEng, 4 BEng, and 3 PDF). The outcomes have direct benefits for the industry partner, Wood Group, and its ability to safely design offshore pipelines for ice-gouge environments like Newfoundland's Grand Banks. Wood Group will integrate the outcomes into its operations by improving the design and life cycle integrity management of pipelines in ice-gouge environments. The proposed research program is therefore well aligned with the technical challenges and needs faced by Wood Group and others working in this sector of the offshore industry. Through this research program, our team and industry partner will be able to implement and apply the results in engineering software tools used to analyze and design offshore pipelines for ice-gouge environments in Newfoundland and elsewhere.