Physical Modelling of Hydrodynamic Loads on Piggyback Pipelines in Combined Wave and Current Conditions

One of the aspects of pipeline design is ensuring pipeline stability on the seabed under the action of environmental loads. During the 1980s, significant efforts were made to improve the understanding of hydrodynamic loads on single pipeline configurations on the seabed (Reference 1). The stability of piggyback (bundled) pipeline configurations is less well understood, with little quantitative data readily available to the design engineer for practical application in engineering problems (References 2–6). This paper describes an extensive set of physical model tests performed for piggyback on-seabed and piggyback-raised-from seabed (spanning or lifting pipeline) configurations to determine hydrodynamic forces in combined wave and current conditions. The piggyback is nominally in the 12 o’clock position. The well-established carriage technique was used, in order to obtain data for use in full-scale stability modelling. The model tests are benchmarked against existing test data, to confirm the validity of the test method. Key findings are presented in terms of non-dimensional coefficients, and force time histories for the vertical and horizontal forces. A brief interpretation of the hydrodynamic load behaviour of the Piggyback System is provided by considering the physical flow mechanisms causing the force time history variation; furthermore the influence of the seabed separation on the piggyback loads is also discussed.