Steel wire rope-sand interaction during landfall operations

Steel wire ropes (SWR) are used for pulling and hoisting activities throughout pipelaying operations. Landfall is one of such activities, where an offshore pipeline is constructed on a pipelay vessel and pulled along the seabed to an onshore facility by a SWR usually laid in a trench. Backfill of the trench by sediment often occurs during landfall operations and leads to burial of the SWR in sand. It is suspected that the resisting force due to the interaction between soil and the SWR might have caused unexpected excessive pulling forces and related surplus loses. This paper presents an overview of the SWR-sand interaction research initiated within the company. Experimental results revealed much higher pulling forces than predicted regardless of SWR dimension.

Author(s): Yenigul, N.B., Ermolaeva, N., & Haddorp, R.