Centrifuge modeling to support the design of subsea pipelines

Offshore geotechnical engineering is characterized by unusual soil and loading conditions, a continuously moving frontier resulting in the requirement for innovative geotechnical solutions, and the very high cost associated with in-situ soil characterization and field testing in remote and deep oceans. As a consequence, offshore engineering practice has probably benefitted more from centrifuge modeling than other domains of geotechnical engineering, since the first offshore projects performed in 1973. After a brief overview of the role and contribution centrifuge modeling has had on offshore geotechnics, the paper illustrates the influence centrifuge modeling in recent years in improving the understanding of subsea pipe-soil interaction, to assist the development of guidelines and recommendations for practitioners, and in being used to design subsea pipelines in offshore Australia.