Numerical modelling of pipe-soil interaction for marine pipelines in sandy seabed subjected to wave loadings

Accurate assessment of pipe-soil interaction under cyclic wave actions is of pronounced importance for the stability analysis of submarine pipelines in sandy seabed. This paper presents a plane-strain numerical study on such a problem using a finite element program DBLEAVES, which incorporates an elasto-plastic soil model that is capable of capturing the cyclic mobility behavior of sandy soils under cyclic loadings. A detailed validation against analytical solution and model test results was provided to demonstrate the robustness of the present numerical model to mimic both pre- and post-liquefaction behavior of sands, before an extensive parametric study was introduced. It was found that the accumulation of excess pore pressure in the vicinity and far field of a pipeline was strongly affected by the existence of it, with an influential range of about two pipe diameters. The influences of wave and seabed properties (e.g. relative densities) on the uplift response of pipelines were then investigated, based on which an explicit model was developed to quantify the degradation effect of waves on the uplift bearing capacity of pipelines against thermally-induced buckling.