Design of Pipelines Against Ice Scour: Effects of Seabed Geology

In recent years, several computational models were published for the analysis of pipelines subjected to ice scour. With one exception, most of these models assumed uniform seabed soil properties. This paper studies the effects of different seabed soil stratigraphies on the ice scour process. Influence of various stiffer and softer soil sequences on the pipeline stresses are analyzed. Effects of reworking or remolding of soils by recurrent scours are studied. The question of existence of limiting scour depths is explored by examining the interaction forces between the seabed soils and the ice keel during the scour process.