Stresses Induced on Existing Pipeline Due to Laying of New Pipeline
In recent times, increasing demand for energy has led to rapid development of subsea and offshore assets for oil and gas transportation. Cross country pipelines are laid to connect and transport hydrocarbons from different source stations to its consumers across the countries. Case study of a new subsea pipeline proposed to be laid on seabed and routed through cross existing pipelines is discussed in this paper. Numerical modeling using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is carried out to analyze present stress level on existing pipelines, i.e. stress due to backfill and increment in vertical stresses in the soil just above the existing pipeline due to proposed new pipeline. Different pipeline loading conditions along with methodology and assumptions of static analysis are presented. Maximum vertical stress in the soil at the top of existing pipelines due to laying of proposed pipeline is computed. These induced stresses are also compared with the initial stresses on the existing pipeline.