Wave-induced cyclic pore-pressure perturbation effects in hydrodynamic uplift force acting on submarine pipeline buried in seabed sediments

Among all environmental loads usually considered in the design procedure, the most critical problem in determining a vertical stability of a submarine pipeline buried in permeable soils under progressive surface-water wave loading is the prediction of the wave-induced cyclic pore-pressure response of a seabed in the vicinity of a submarine pipeline. A study of the hydrodynamic (i.e., wave-induced) uplift force acting on a submarine pipeline buried in sandy seabed sediments is presented, under the assumption of different compressibility models of the two-phase seabed/pore-fluid medium. Introducing an uplift-force perturbation ratio, the question of perturbation effects affecting the wave-induced pore-pressure field by the presence of a stiff and impermeable body of the submarine pipeline is analysed thoroughly. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.