Wave-induced seabed instability around a buried pipeline in a pore-elastic seabed

The subject of the wave-seabed-structure interaction is important for civil engineers regarding stability analysis of foundations for offshore installations. Most previous investigations have been concerned with such a problem in the vicinity of a simple structure such as a vertical wall. For more complicated structures such as a pipeline, the phenomenon of the wave-seabed-structure has not been fully understood. This paper proposes a finite-difference model in a curvilinear coordinate system to investigate the wave-induced seabed response in a porous seabed around a pipeline. Based on the present numerical model, mechanism of the wave-induced soil response is examined. Employing Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, the wave-induced seabed instability is also estimated. The numerical results indicate the importance of the effect of pipeline on the seabed response. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.