Calculation and experiment on scour depth for submarine pipeline with a spoiler

Seabed scouring presents severe safety issues for subsea pipelines. It is crucial to be able to predict scour depths for various flow conditions. In this paper, the effects of flow velocity and spoiler on scour depth are investigated using laboratory experiments. It is found that both the fluid Reynolds number and the spoiler height have strong effects on scour depth. Mechanistic formulas for scour depth are proposed and validated using laboratory test data. The formulas consider the fluid velocity profile beneath the pipeline, which greatly affects scour depth. The formulas produced good match with tests data. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.