Dynamic response of a porous seabed around pipeline under three-dimensional wave loading

The evaluation of the wave-induced pore pressure around a buried pipeline is particularly important for pipeline engineers involved in the design of offshore pipelines. Most previous investigations of the wave-induced dynamic response around an offshore pipeline have limited to two-dimensional cases. In this paper, a three-dimensional model including buried pipeline is established, based on the existing DYNE3WAC models. Based on the proposed numerical model and poro-elastic soil material assumption, the effects of wave and soil characteristics, such as wave period, water depth, shear modulus and permeability, and configuration of pipelines, such as pipeline radius and pipeline buried depth, on the wave-induced excess pore pressure will be examined. Numerical results indicated that the normalized excess pore pressures versus z/h near the pipeline increase as the obliquity angle, wave period and water depth increase, and they decrease as the burial depth and radius of pipeline increase above the pipeline. Soil permeability has obvious influence on the wave-induced normalized excess pore pressure, and different soil material will result in distinct computation results. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.