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Simulation of the Subsea Pipeline-Laying Process in Deep Water

Conference Paper · December 2014

DOI: 10.1061/9780784413821.029

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ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 257

Simulation of Subsea Pipeline Laying Process in Deep Water

Huidong Wei1 ,Ying Jiang2 ,Guangkuo Xing3 and Dawei Zhang4

1 Subsea Engineer, Design Division, Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.; No.1078,
Dan Jiang Road, Tianjin 300451; Tel: 022-66908617; Email: hdwei88@163.com
2 Senior Subsea Engineer, Design Division, Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.;
No.1078, Dan Jiang Road, Tianjin 300451; Tel: 022-66908686; Email:
JY@mail.cooec.com.cn
3 Subsea Engineer, Design Division, Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.; No.1078,
Dan Jiang Road, Tianjin 300451; Tel: 022-66908198; Email:
xinggk@mail.cooec.com.cn
4 Subsea Engineer, Design Division, Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.; No.1078,
Dan Jiang Road, Tianjin 300451; Tel: 022-66909306; Email:
zhangdw1@mail.cooec.com.cn

ABSTRACT

According to the requirement of offshore installation, the corresponding simplified

computer simulation model for subsea pipeline laying process with inline structures
has been built. In order to investigate the main parameters and guarantee the
structural safety of the subsea pipeline, static and dynamic analyses based on
simulations are carried out. In static analysis, the result of the pipe-laying posture and
equivalent stress of pipeline under different residual tension is given. And in dynamic
analysis, the effect of environmental condition on installation process is studied. The
simulation process can be adopted as the theoretical basis for the offshore installation.
By using the simulation, the installation efficiency can be improved and the risk in
offshore engineering can be reduced. The process of the simulation method can be
spread to the realization of other types of large offshore installation activity.

KEYWORDS

Simulation; Subsea Pipeline; Laying Process; Deep Water

INTRODUCTION

As the modernization of human society increases, the demand for energy resources is
becoming increasingly important. The conventional fossil energy resources, like oil,
coal and gas comprise the main parts. In order to get more energy, human began to
drill and explore fossil energy below offshore earth shell. In recent years, the
technology advances in offshore drilling and exploring boosts the offshore oil and
ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 258

gas development in deep water. There is a long coast in China and the sea contains
rich oil and gas resources. The energy exploration where the depth of water is more
than 300 meters is a very tough policy in supporting the economic and social
advancement. Compared with the onshore oil and gas development, the risk and cost
in offshore engineering is much bigger. For example, large vessels are usually
required in the installation of offshore engineering, which cost tens of thousands or
even millions of US dollars every day. In worldwide big engineering companies, the
process and key operational parameters in offshore installation needs to be analyzed
theoretically to improve the installation efficiency and reduce the mutable
environmental conditions (Dyson & Mcdonald, 2004). As an example, the activity of
the subsea pipeline laying in 1000 meters water depth (Qu & Liu, 2013) is always
carried out to make the installation of tens and hundreds of pipelines in the seabed to
transport oil and gas (Pernet & Frazer 2007). The photo of such kind of vessel is
shown in Figure 1 (Wolbers & Hovinga, 2003).

Figure 1. Pipeline laying vessel in deep water

SIMULATION MODEL

Build the model. To guarantee the operations in offshore pipeline laying process in
the normal lay, the vessel members should concentrate on the safety of vessel’s
hardware and the structural integrity of pipeline (Cao & Guan, 2012), who is also
responsible to make preparations for emergency environment. The mechanical and
motional characteristics are the focus of the problem. This problem could be solved
by finite element method (FEM) to build the simulation model according to the
engineering background in computer, which is shown in Figure 2.
ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 259

Simulation Model

Vessel Pipeline Seabed

Vessel-Pipe Pipe-Seabed
Coupling Coupling

Pipeline Structural
Integrethy

Laying
Parameters

Figure 2. Simulation organization chart

Model description. By the above organization of simulation model, rigid model is

used for the vessel, which considers the size and the motion response under
environmental condition. Flexible model is used for pipeline, whose mechanical
properties are considered. The rigid model is used for seabed. The heave motion is
considered for the vessel under environmental condition. The kinematic constraints
are built between the pipeline and vessel and the contact constraints are built between
the pipeline and seabed (Sha & Zhou, 2013). General finite element analytical
software in engineering field is adopted to carry out the simulation, which is shown
in Figure 3. Large displacement nonlinear static and dynamic functions should be
opened in the analysis and the motion coupling is activated. The gravity and residual
tension is applied firstly to carry out implicit static analysis to get the equilibrium
state under pipeline normal lay. And the vessel heave motion is applied later to carry
out explicit dynamic analysis (Ye &Duan, 2013).
ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 260

Vessel

Pipeline

Seabed

Figure 3. Simulation model

Theoretical background. In static state, the virtual work principal is satisfied, where
the sum of integration item of surface forces and integration item of body forces
equals the integration of stress. It is shown in equation（1）and it is solved by implicit
integration method.
 ∂δv 
 t ⋅ δvdS +  f ⋅ δvdV =  σ :  ∂x dV
S V
（1）

Dynamic state. In dynamic state, according to Newton-Lagrange principal, the

integration of forces equals the product of mass and acceleration. It is shown in
equation（2）and it is solved by explicit integration method which is indicated in
equation（3）and（4）.
(
u(Ni) = M NJ ) (P−1 J
(i ) − I (Ji ) ) （2）

uiN+1 = uiN + Δt (i +1)uN 1

（3）
 i+ 
 2

Δt (i +1) + Δt (i )
uN 1
= uN 1
+ u(Ni) （4）
 i+ 
 2
 i− 
 2
2

SIMULATION RESULT

Engineering example. According to the above computer simulation model, an

example of foreign engineering project is analyzed. The parameters are like
following: the diameter is 14 inch, the pipe material is API X65, and the water depth
is 1000 meters. At static state and dynamic sin motion state under heave conditions
of vessel, where the period is 5 second and the amplitude is 1 meter, the separated
computations are carried out. The posture of pipeline, the required tension force, and
the angle is main parts. The integrity parameters are stress and strain.
ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 261

Static simulation. The residual tension force ranges from 100kN to 1500kN. The
basic parameters of laying vessel are shown in Table 1. From the table, it indicates
that the tension force required changes linearly with the residual tension force.
According to the formula Tvessel = kTresidul + S , and after fitting the curve, the

constant in the formula, k=1.0028，S=2184.2. Figure 4 show the pipeline laying

postures under the residual tension forces 200kN, 500kN, 800kN and 1000kN, which
also indicates that the bigger the tension force is, the smaller slope the catenary line
has.

Table 1. Limit Load of Subsea Pipeline

Residual Tension Force/kN Tension Force /kN Water Entry Angle/deg
100 2283.2 87.5
200 2384.5 85.2
500 2686.4 79.2
800 2987.6 74.4
1000 3187.4 71.6
1500 3687.1 65.9

-200

-400
Depth/m

-600

-800

-1000

-1200
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Distance/m

Figure 4. Pipeline laying posture

Stress distribution. The equivalent stress distribution under different tension forces is
shown in Figure 5 (the residual tension force is 200kN, 500kN, 800kN and 1000kN
from left to right). It indicates that below the water depth 800 meters, the bigger the
residual tension force is, the bigger the equivalent stress is. At the water depth 30
meters and 900 meters, there are large stress changes in the pipeline. The changing
amplitude at the top is basically the same and it is largest for the residual tension
force 200kN and same for the residual tension force 500kN to 1000kN at the bottom.
ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 262

-200

-400

Depth/m
-600

-800

-1000

-1200
-1.00E+07 4.00E+07 9.00E+07 1.40E+08 1.90E+08 2.40E+08
Von Mises Stress/Pa

Figure 5. Stress distribution along pipeline

Strain distribution. The equivalent strain distribution under different tension forces
is shown in Figure 6 (the residual tension force is 200kN, 500kN, 800kN and
1000kN in the right horizontal line from top to bottom). It indicates that there is big
changing in the water depth from 500 meters to 700 meters. That is because the
effect the bending from contact with the seabed. When the residual tension force is
smaller, like 200kN, there is also big changing in the water depth from 200 meters to
400 meters.

1.50E-03

1.00E-03

5.00E-04
Strain

0.00E+00

-5.00E-04

-1.00E-03
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Distance/m

Figure 6. Strain distribution along pipeline

From the above simulation analyses, it is recommended that the residual tension
force 800kN is adopted since the stress and strain changing amplitude is smooth and
there is small stress and strain at the top of the pipeline. The pipeline water entry
angle is 75 degree where the horizontal distance of vessel is 650 meters and the
required tension force is 3000kN.

Dynamic simulation. After determining the tension force, the environmental

ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 263

conditions are considered for the simulation of laying process. Under the wave effect,
the motion equation of vessel is s = 1.0 sin(1.25t ) . At this moment, the water entry

angle and residual tension force are kept at a fixed value. At the period of 5 seconds,
the tension force and pipeline structural integrity are considered. The residual tension
forces 500kN and 800kN are selected, and the tension force fluctuations are shown in
Figure 7. It indicates that at the whole period, there is big change in the tension force.
Compared with the tension force 2700kN and 3000kN at static state, the tension
force at dynamic state reaches 5000kN. So bigger tensioner with the ability of
500MT should be selected or the heave compensation function is required to meet
the changing of the environmental conditions.

6.00E+06

5.00E+06
Tension Force/N

4.00E+06

3.00E+06

2.00E+06

1.00E+06

0.00E+00
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time/s

Figure 7. Tension force fluctuations with time

Stress and strain fluctuations. Figure 8 and 9 is the stress and strain fluctuations
with time at the pipeline that s near to the vessel fixed point. It indicates that the
stress and strain changing is almost the same. During the whole time period, the
maximum stress reaches 180MPa and the maximum strain reaches 0.09%. Compared
with the maximum stress 100MPa and maximum strain 0.055%, the stress increases
80% and the strain increases 64%. Although the maximum values are in the
acceptable extent, the fatigue life assessment of pipeline should be made according to
the amplitude changing of stress/strain and lasting time.
ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 264

2.00E+08
1.80E+08

Von Mises Stress/Pa

1.60E+08
1.40E+08
1.20E+08
1.00E+08
8.00E+07
6.00E+07
4.00E+07
2.00E+07
0.00E+00
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time/s

Figure 8. Stress fluctuations with time

1.00E-03

8.00E-04

6.00E-04
Strain

4.00E-04

2.00E-04

0.00E+00

-2.00E-04
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time/s

Figure 9. Strain fluctuations with time

CONCLUSION

By the computer simulation method, a kind of offshore installation, subsea pipeline

J-lay process is analyzed. The simplified simulation model of vessel, pipeline and
seabed is built and the coupling effect of vessel-pipeline and pipeline-seabed is
defined. The laying posture, key laying parameters and pipeline structural integrity
assessment is realized at static state. The environmental conditions are also
considered to investigate the stress and strain fluctuations with time at the fixed
residual tension force and water entry angle during the installation.
The simulation provides the theory and data for the subsea pipeline laying process
during offshore installation. It helps the assessment of the vessel ability for the
design and installation members, which also makes the pipeline structural integrity
evaluation. The countermeasures are also provided for the environmental conditions.
The installation efficiency increases and the risk of the offshore engineering
decreases in the analyses. This method can be spread to other offshore engineering
installation in deepwater exploration field.
 ICPTT 2014 © ASCE 2014 265

REFERENCES

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Pipeline Laying Based on Displacement Constraint. Computer CD Software and
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Dick Wolbers and Rob Hovinga (2003). Installation of Deepwater Pipelines With
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Tools for Ultradeep Water. Offshore Technology Conference 18669 2007, (P. 1).
Han F., Wang D.G. and Cao J. (2012). Research on design of the J-lay tower for
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K.C. Dyson, W.J. Mcdonald and P. Olden (2004). Design Features for Wye Sled
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