Pipe-soil interaction model for current-induced pipeline instability on a sloping sandy seabed

As the offshore exploitation moving to deeper waters, ocean currents would become more prevailing hydrodynamics on pipelines, and meanwhile the sloping seabed is always encountered. The prediction of lateral soil resistance is vital in evaluating the pipeline on-bottom stability. Unlike the previous pipe-soil interaction models mainly for horizontal seabed conditions, a pipe-soil interaction model for current-induced downslope and upslope instabilities is proposed by using limit equilibrium approach. The Coulombâ s theory of passive earth pressure for the sloping soil is incorporated in the derivation. The model verification with the existing full scale tests shows a good agreement between the experimental results and the predicted ones. Parametric study indicates that the effect of slope angle on the pipeline lateral soil resistance is significant in the examined range of the slope angle from -150 to 150. The critical pipeline embedment and the corresponding passive-pressure decreases approximately linearly with increasing slope angle.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author