ABSTRACT

This study illustrates the variation in pipe-soil contact force in the vicinity of sleepers, and the dependence of the resulting pipeline embedment on the asymmetric and dynamic nature of the lay process.The paper presents results of theoretical analyses used to calculate the pipe-soil contact force and embedment based on the standard catenary solution, and static and dynamic numerical analyses of the lay process. These are compared to as-laid field data for a pipeline installed at a soft clay site in deep water.