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Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline during Pile Driving Vibration in Offshore

Engineering

Article in Marine Georesources and Geotechnology · July 2015

DOI: 10.1080/1064119X.2015.1070936

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ISSN: 1064-119X (Print) 1521-0618 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/umgt20

Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline during Pile

Driving Vibration in Offshore Engineering

Jingbo Su, Guojun Cai, Jianfeng Li, Ruihu Zhu, Wanggen Qin & Qiu Zhai

To cite this article: Jingbo Su, Guojun Cai, Jianfeng Li, Ruihu Zhu, Wanggen Qin & Qiu Zhai
(2015): Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline during Pile Driving Vibration in Offshore
Engineering, Marine Georesources & Geotechnology, DOI: 10.1080/1064119X.2015.1070936

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 Marine Georesources & Geotechnology, 0: 1–14
Copyright # 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1064-119X print/1521-0618 online
DOI: 10.1080/1064119X.2015.1070936

Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline during Pile Driving

Vibration in Offshore Engineering
JINGBO SU1, GUOJUN CAI2, JIANFENG LI1, RUIHU ZHU1, WANGGEN QIN3, and QIU ZHAI1
1
College of Harbour, Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
2
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
3
Research Center of Water Transport Technology, Jiangsu Province Communications Planning and Design Institute Limited
Company, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Received 1 April 2015, Accepted 6 July 2015

Downloaded by [Florida International University] at 13:11 15 March 2016

To assess the impact of pile driving on adjacent submarine pipelines during the reconstruction of a pier berth, the local damage
model of submarine pipelines is established to explore the safety thresholds of the particle peak velocity and horizontal displace-
ment. The results are analyzed and adjusted by the existing standards and the corresponding literatures. Then, a three-dimensional
numerical model is presented to assess the feasibility of the construction of piles by the obtained safety limits, in which the non-
linear behavior of the soil and stress–seepage coupling analysis are considered. After the construction, the safety of submarine pipe-
lines is rechecked by the measured value of the particle peak velocity and horizontal displacement. Meanwhile, the propagation law
of vibration, the horizontal displacement of underground soil, and the pore pressure during pile driving are explored. The results
indicate that the construction of piles of 2# mooring pier did not cause damage to adjacent submarine pipelines. However, the
construction of piles of 1# mooring pier which is nearer may cause damage to submarine pipelines.
Keywords: buried pipelines, monitoring, numerical simulation, pile driving, safety assessment

Introduction between the pile impedance and the geological conditions.

The time-history curves of horizontal, vertical velocity, and
In engineering practice, the precast pile has been widely used acceleration were obtained during pile driving by the in-site
because its quality is easy to guarantee, its bearing capacity measurements (Thandavamoorthy 2004). It was found that
is stable, and its construction efficiency is higher. Yet, the the velocity and acceleration of soil vibrations varied along
method of hammering construction not only causes with the penetration depth and reached the maximum at a
noise, but also causes vibration of soil adjacent to the pile specified penetration depth after an analysis of the data
(Athanasopoulos and Pelekis 2000) and the vibration of soil and a spectrum analysis of piles and soil is performed, the
would cause a deterioration of soil properties (Hunt et al. variation range of frequency and the main frequency of
2002) and damage the adjacent structures (Woods 1997; piles and soil were obtained. The results indicated that
Svinkin 2004). main vibration frequency of piles and soil is identical,
In recent years, pile driving by hammering attracts enough which leads to the resonance between piles and soil. The ampli-
attention due to the significant effects. The in-site measure- tude of soil vibration exceeded the permitted value, which
ment is a common method to study the vibration caused by might have serious implications on the surrounding buildings.
pile driving by hammering. The propagation and attenuation However, the cost of in-site measurement is high and the
characteristics of ground vibration were explored by many influence caused by pile driving could not be predicted by
scholars by the method. The data of the pore-water pressure, in-site measurement. Also, simple in-site measurement
the lateral and vertical deformations of soil, and the vibra- would lead to construction risks. Instead the numerical
tions of soil which was caused by pile driving were obtained analysis method avoids these disadvantages. A finite-element
by the large-scale in-site measurements (Hwang, Liang, and and infinite-element coupling model was developed to pre-
Chen 2001) and the data were handled to obtain the relations dict the vibration velocity of soil caused by pile driving
(Ramshaw, Selby, and Bettes 2000). Although, the elastic
Address correspondence to Guojun Cai, Institute of Geotechni- behavior was assumed for both the pile and the soil, the
cal Engineering, Southeast University, 2 Si-pai-lou, Xuanwu results of numerical simulation of pile driving were in an
District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 210096. E-mail: focuscai@ acceptable agreement with measured data. A linear
163.com finite-element and boundary-element coupling model was
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article developed to research the free field vibrations and predict
can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/umgt. the particle peak velocity (PPV) caused by pile driving
 2 J. Su et al.

(Masoumi, Degrande, and Lombaert 2007) but perhaps the engineering, above all the numerical simulation is used to
elastic behavior was assumed for the pile and the soil, the pre- predict the dynamic response in advance. Also, a vibration
diction of the far field vibrations were overestimated. Later, threshold and a displacement threshold that is suitable to
both the nonlinear constitutive behavior of the soil and the this project were presented based on a fine numerical model
nonlinear dynamic interaction between the pile and the soil and existing standards.
were considered (Masoumi, François, and Degrande 2009).
It indicates a better estimation of the far field vibrations. To Project Overview
overcome the large deformation problem of the penetration
process of pile, the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian technology To satisfy growing requirements of loading and unloading
was introduced to establish the numerical model to simulate and to reduce transportation costs, the 1#, 2# berth of a
the whole process of pile penetration (Khoubani and Ahmadi wharf structure would be upgraded. Pier 1# berth reno-
2014). And the sliding friction between the pile and soil was vation project is located near a power plant. The minimum
considered. The vibration of the soil during the pile plane distance between piles of 1# mooring pier and sub-
penetration process was mainly studied in this article. How- marine pipeline of power plant is only 24.8 m. The distance
ever, previous numerical analysis model considered the ideal between piles of 2#, 3# mooring pier and submarine pipe-
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situation of the soil which did not conform to the actual. In line of power plant is, respectively, 45.4 and 76.3 m (as
fact, due to the difference of soil parameter and the sensitivity shown in Figure 1).The diameter and length of steel pipe
of vibration caused by pile driving on the soil parameters piles are, respectively, 1.2 and 67.0 m. The length of piles
(Zhang and Tao 2011), the results of numerical simulation in the soil is about 40 m. In this project, D100 diesel hammer
are not satisfactory in most cases for the simplified 2D was chosen to drive the piles. According to the records of the
numerical model, that did not fully meet the actual situation. penetration process of driven piles, forty-two blows per
Though the in situ measurement or the numerical analysis minute are suitable in a given geological condition and for
method, was applied in most of the past researches, the ulti- a pile, the net hammer time is usually about 15 min. The
mate goal is to solve the most serious problems, providing the material of buried pipes is concrete whose strength grade is
basis for assessing the effect of vibrations caused by pile driv- C50 and antipermeability label is S6. The diameter of buried
ing on adjacent structures. In the past, there were a lot of pipes of the power plant and the thickness of the lining are,
research results for the effect of vibrations on the adjacent respectively, 4.8 and 0.3 m.
structures (Siskind et al. 1980; Woods 1997; Clemente and According to the geological investigation report, the geo-
Rinaldis 1998; Amick and Gendreau 2000; Svinkin 2004; logical conditions in the construction site are considerably
Thandavamoorthy 2004; Tan and Lan 2012). However, most complicated. The relative altitude in the wharf apron is about
of the vibrations were caused by an earthquake, a running 23 m. And the soil layer is roughly divided into eleven layers in
train or explosion, which has an obvious difference with the depth of about 70 m, the depth of each soil layer changes
the vibration caused by the pile driving (Kim and Lee 2000; according to the geographical coordinates. The detailed
Thandavamoorthy 2004). Few literatures are found for the geological mechanics parameters are shown in Table 1.
research on the effects of vibrations caused by pile driving
on the structure, especially on the submarine pipeline. To Control Indicators of Vibration
ensure the security of the cooling tower and the buried pipe-
line near the construction site of pile driving, the dynamic Though the vibration of the existing standard (Siskind et al.
responses of the soil, cooling towers, and buried pipelines 1980; Studer and Suesstrunk 1981; Deutches Institut für
are recorded (Tan and Lan 2012). By comparing the moni- Normung 1983; New 1986; British Standards Institution
tored vibration velocity, the displacement of soil, and the 1990; Massarsch and Broms 1991; Skipp 1998) tends to be con-
threshold advised by DIN4150 standard, it is shown that servative, there is also an accidental situation where the struc-
the nearby structures are safe. It is common sense that, to tures were damaged when vibration intensity obviously did not
reasonably assess the safety of the underground structure, a exceed the maximum that the standard specifies (Massarsch
clear assessment criteria is necessary. In recent years, there and Broms 1991). Hence, to ensure the reliability of the thresh-
are many standards (Studer and Suesstrunk 1981; Deutches old, it is necessary to carry out specific analysis on a specific
Institut für Normung 1983; British Standards Institution engineering, and then to take the more reliable value as the
1990) for the vibration control, but mostly for ground struc- ultimate limited value referring to the existing standards.
ture. Due to ambiguous definition of damage, various struc- At present, PPV is considered the most relevant indicator
ture types, construction methods, and complex foundation with structure damage and many standards such as OSM,
conditions (Massarsch and Broms 1991; Svinkin 2004), to DIN, BSI, and SN adapt PPV to characterize the vibration
assess the safety of buried pipelines is rough which is not intensity (New 1986; Skipp 1998). At the same time, the
suitable for the existing standards. displacement difference is also considered the direct factor
To reasonably assess the safety of the buried pipelines at that causes structural damage (New 1986). Considering the
the bottom of the sea, and to avoid the risk of construction complicated geological conditions and the noncontact of
when just performing an in-site measurement or a simple the buried pipelines, a fine model of the concrete pipe
numerical simulation, in this article, the combination of and soil is presented to gain the threshold of the PPV and
the in-site measurement and the numerical simulation is used horizontal displacement of the soil near the buried pipes to
to assess the safety of buried pipelines in a wharf renovation ensure the security of the buried pipes.
 Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline 3
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Fig. 1. Layout of berths and monitoring points.

Plastic Damage Model of the Pipes the elastic stiffness matrix of concrete is reduced; (b)
The nonaffiliated hardening rule is introduced to the con-
The combination of the plastic damage model by
crete plasticity constitutive model to better simulate the
Lubliner and the concrete plastic damage model which
elastic–plastic behavior of concrete; (c) The stiffness
is suitable for reciprocating load by Lee and Fenves is
degradation index is introduced for mechanical behavior
adapted for the damage analysis of the buried pipes:
of concrete before and after fracture closure to better
(a) The damage indicator is introduced to concrete
simulation of mechanical response of concrete under
constitutive model, to reflect the characteristics that
repeated loading reaction.
unloading stiffness decreases with increasing damage,

Table 1. Geological mechanics parameters of the whale engineering

Coefficient of
permeability Dynamic
Dynamic modulus of Natural Cohesive Interval
Layer Vertical Horizontal Poisson’s elasticity gravity= force= friction
No. Name of the soil kv (cm=s) kh (cm=s) ratio (md) (Ed=Mpa) kN=m3 kPa angle ( )

12 Muddy silty clay 3.0  107 4.2  107 0.498 60.0 18.2 11.7 4.6
2 Muddy silty clay 3.2  107 4.5  107 0.497 75.0 17.9 13.2 4.9
31 Silty clay 5.0  107 7.5  107 0.495 120.0 18.5 13.8 5.4
32 Clay 2.5  107 2.8  107 0.495 150.0 18.1 18.4 6.3
41 Silty clay 2.5  107 3.9  107 0.491 240.0 19.1 19.5 10.1
42 Silty clay 3.0  107 4.2  107 0.491 250.0 18.9 21.5 7.5
5 Gravel sand containing — — 0.487 330.0 19.3 19.0 33.2
clay
61a Gravel sand containing — — 0.487 330.0 19.5 19.0 33.2
clay
61 Silty clay — — 0.488 350.0 20.2 47.6 15.9
62 Medium sand — — 0.489 280.0 19.9 27.3 27.3
containing clay
7 Gravel containing clay — — 0.485 380.0 20.1 — —
 4 J. Su et al.

The plastic damage model of concrete can be generalized The elastic and plastic yield surface of concrete in this
by the following equations, model is put forward by Lee and Fenves (1998).
1
r ¼ ð1  dÞ
r; ð1aÞ r; ~epl Þ ¼
F ð ½q  3ap þ bð~epl Þ
1a ð2aÞ
r ¼ Del0 ðe  epl Þ; ð1bÞ ^max i  chr
hr ^max i  rc ð~epl
c Þ;
: pl
r; ~epl Þ  e_pl ;
~e ¼ hð ð1cÞ where

e_pl ¼ k@Gð
rÞ=@ r ð1dÞ rc ð~epl
c Þ
bð~epl Þ ¼ ð1  aÞ  ð1 þ aÞ; ð2bÞ
rt ð~epl
t Þ
where r is the nominal stress; r is the effective stress; d is the rb0  rc0
a¼ ; ð2cÞ
total damage indicator; De1 0 is the elasticity constitutive 2rb0  rc0
matrix of the material; e is the total strain; epl is the plastic 3ð1  Kc Þ
: pl c¼ : ð2dÞ
strain; ~epl is the equivalent plastic strain; ~e is the equivalent 2Kc  1
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plastic strain rate; h is the Hardening function; k is the In Eq. (2a)–(2d), q is the equivalent static water pressure;
plastic multiplier; G is the plastic potential function. p is the Mises effective stress; ~epl epl
t and ~ c are, respectively, the
Equation (1a) defines the effective stress considering the tensile and compressive equivalent plastic strains; rt and rc
damage. Equation (1b) defines the relationship between are, respectively, the effective cohesive stresses in tension
effective stress and elastic strain. Equation (1c) and (1d) and compression; a and c are dimensionless material para-
defines the plastic behavior of concrete. meters; rb0 and rc0 are, respectively, the initial yield stresses
By introducing the stiffness degradation index, mechan- under biaxial and uniaxial compression, in general, the value
ical responses of concrete under repeated loading reaction of a is proposed as 0.08–0.12; r ^max is the maximum eigenva-
is simulated. The stress–strain relation of concrete is shown lue of effective stress; for concrete, Kc ¼ 2=3 which means
in Figure 2. Where d is the total damage indicator; dt is the c ¼ 3.
tensile damage indicator; dc is the compression damage The relationship between the shape of the yield surface on
indicator; st and sc are the functions of the stress state the plane and Kc is shown in Figure 3. And the plastic flow is
which are used to describe the influence of the stiffness a nonaffiliated flow rule based on Drucker–Prager flow, the
degradation as the changes of the stress state; xt and xc formulas are as follows:
are the weighting factors which are related to material
and they are used to control the recovery of the tensile @Gð rÞ
e_pl ¼ k_ ; ð3aÞ
and compressive stiffness when the stress states change. @ r
According to a lot of tests, the compressive stiffness of brit- qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
tle materials such as concrete fully recovers when the stress G ¼ ð2 rt0 tan wÞ2 þ q2  p tan w; ð3bÞ
changes from the tensile to the compressive, which indicates
where G is the plastic potential function; 2 is determined by
that the microcracks close. In contrast, when the stress
eccentricity, 2 is used to indicate the degree that the curve of
changes from the compressive to the tensile and the micro-
plastic potential equation approaches the asymptote, and the
crack opens, its tensile stiffness does not recover. Therefore,
curve of the plastic potential equation tends to a straight line
0 and 1.0 are, respectively, chosen as the value of xt and xc
when eccentricity is zero; rt0 is the uniaxial ultimate tensile
in the concrete model.
strength; w is the dilation angle of the material.

Fig. 2. Stress–strain relation of concrete under repeated loading Fig. 3. Relationship between the shape of the yield surface on
reaction. the plane and Kc.
 Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline 5
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Fig. 4. Relationship between cracking displacement and tensile stress of concrete and damage variables.

A piecewise curve is used to determine the tensile damage The Numerical Model for the Pipes and the Soil
factor in the concrete damage model as follow:
8 Figure 5 shows the cross-section and its size of concrete pipe
< 0 ffi x1
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi and soil. Meticulous model of numerical calculation extends
dt ¼ 1  ð4Þ 30 m in z direction. The total element number of soil mass is
x > 1;
ft =et =E0
: a ðx1Þ1:7 þx
t 20190, the total node number is 23056, the total element
number of concrete pipe is 960, the total node number of
where dt is the tensile damage factor from 0 to 1.0; at is a concrete pipe is 2048. The boundaries of model are exerted
parameter of uniaxial tensile stress–strain curve in the on the normal chain constrains. The parameter of each soil
declining period; ft is the uniaxial tensile strength of is given by the engineering geological exploration datum;
concrete; et is the corresponding peak tensile strain of the parameters of concrete material are given by the design
concrete with ft ; E0 is the initial elastic modulus of concrete; code for hydraulic concrete structures (SL191-2008). The
x ¼ e=et, where e is the total strain of soil. elastic modulus is given as 34.5 GPa; the Poisson’s ratio is
The relationship of cracking displacement, tensile stress given as 0.167; the tensile strength is given as 2.75 MPa.
of concrete, and damage variables is shown in Figure 4.
Damage Analysis of the Impact Velocity
To simulate and consider the weak joint of the buried pipes,
the elastic modulus and tensile strength of the joint elements
are reduced. Applied forces include the weight of soil and
concrete pipe, hydrostatic pressure in the concrete pipes
and the impact velocity. The impact velocity is applied along
the x direction (see Figure 6). Figure 7 shows the initial

Fig. 5. Cross-sectional size of the concrete pipe and the soil. Fig. 6. Impact velocity.
 6 J. Su et al.

0.30 m=s. The impact velocity, therefore, has a greater influ-

ence for the concrete pipe when the buried depth is shallower.

Damage Analysis of the Lateral Displacement

In the model shown in Figure 5, applied forces include the
weight of soil and concrete pipe, hydrostatic pressure in
the concrete tube and the load produced by a given displace-
ment at the side of the soil, which is shown in Figure 9.
There is about 5 mm horizontal deformation by in-site
measurement which appears nearly 10 m away from the cen-
ter of the buried pipe. So whether the concrete pipe meets the
bearing ability is analyzed under this deformation. The
results of numerical analysis show that concrete pipe is
stable and safe, damage does not occur. To further study
the safety of concrete pipe, the given displacement at the side
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of the soil is gradually amplified. When the given displace-

ment at the side of the soil is amplified to twenty-three times,
Fig. 7. Initial damage rate of the joint element strength of con-
concrete pipe damage begins to occur. The first damage
crete pipe under different reduction ratio.
appears at the top of the concrete pipe and when the damage
occurs through the top, it begins to appear at the bottom of
damage velocity of the joint element for different strengths the concrete pipe.
of concrete pipe under different reduction ratio. When the
initial damage occurs, the corresponding impact velocity of
The Threshold of Control Indicators of Vibration
concrete pipe is about 0.30 m=s. Initial damage of the con-
crete pipe starts from the joint, and gradually extends to It has the vibration characteristics of low frequency and many
the bottom of the concrete pipe. times for pile driving, the existing standard (Studer and
The change of the buried depth of the pipeline is bigger Suesstrunk 1981; Deutches Institut für Normung 1983;
(see Figure 8). To investigate the effect of buried depth of pipe British Standards Institution 1990) (see Figure 10) provides
on the initial damage, the buried depth is assumed 10m as that the threshold of peak vibration velocity is 10 30 mm=s.
shown in Figure 5. At the same time, to eliminate the influ- Due to the buried pipelines’ safety requirements, the con-
ence of material parameters, the soil material parameters trolling measurement point can only be arranged around
after taking a weighted average are used as the material para- 10 m away from the buried pipeline, the threshold of peak
meters of all soil. After cutting in depth, the starting time of vibration velocity for the fine model will be larger, comparing
concrete pipe damage is 0.00258 s, the value of the impact with the existing standard limit. By a fine model of impact
velocity v0 is 2 m=s, so the corresponding initial damage velocity damage analysis and comparison with existing stan-
velocity of concrete pipes is about 0.052 m=s. While before dards, we know that there is no unexpected condition for the
cutting in depth, the starting time of concrete pipe damage established standard and for the project, the actual change of
is 0.015 s, the value of the impact velocity v0 is 2 m=s, the cor- buried depth of pipeline is larger, considering from a security
responding initial damage velocity of concrete pipe is about perspective, the threshold of the peak vibration velocity is

Fig. 8. Depth of buried pipeline.

 Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline 7

engineering, this will not cause damage for the buried pipes
by hammer pile driving, so 3# mooring pier was first con-
structed. On the basis of the monitoring datum of 3# mooring
pier, the precision of the numerical model can be improved by
adjusting the parameters of the model. Then, the modified
numerical model (the adjustment conditions of geological
mechanics parameters are shown Table 2.) which can be used
to predict the vibration situation near the buried pipes while
1#, 2# mooring piers are constructing and to evaluate the
feasibility of the construction. At the same time, the monitor-
ing datum of 1#, 2# mooring pier are sequentially used to
modify the numerical model for safety review.

In Site Monitoring Program

As the buried pipe can be not touched, the monitoring points
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are assigned in soil to make them as far as possible to reflect

the damage of submarine pipelines and the changes of the
buried depth. There are five assigned monitoring points in
the engineering field such as M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5 as
Fig. 9. Boundary conditions of displacement. shown in Figure 1. There are eleven drillings, including
twenty-one speed sensors, sixteen deep displacement sensors,
twelve pore water pressure sensors. These particular sensors’
decided as 20 30 mm=s. In addition, according to the
measuring layout and buried depth are shown in Figure 11.
damage analysis of lateral displacement in the fine model,
The soil speed, soil deformation, and the change of pore
and to ensure the safety, the threshold of lateral displacement
water pressure of soil can be monitored by the buried sensors.
is decided as 8 10 mm.

Numerical Analysis Model

In Situ Monitoring and Numerical Analysis
Numerical Model and the Mesh
On account of the 3# mooring pier being far away from The calculation model contains many groups of entities such
the bottom of the power plant’s pipes (horizontal minimum as soil, pile group, pile caps, and buried pipes. The buried
distance is about 80 m). According to the experience of pipes and piles are simulated in actual size. The numerical

Fig. 10. Threshold of various standard peak vibration velocity.

 8 J. Su et al.

Table 2. Adjustment conditions of geological mechanics

parameters
Dynamic modulus of
elasticity (Ed=Mpa)

Layer Name of Before the After the

No. the soil adjustment adjustment

12 Muddy silty clay 60.0 30.0

3 Muddy silty clay 75.0 55.0
41 Silty clay 120.0 110.0
42 Clay 150.0 140.0

model is very complex, so the geometry entities and the mesh

are established by Midas=GTS software, the analysis of the
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Fig. 12. Mesh of the calculation model after applying free field
model is by FLAC3D. To reduce the influence of boundary
boundary.
effect, the calculation range of the soil mass is selected as
250 m long  250 m wide  150 m deep. The model uses four
sides four nodes element. The elastic and plastic model by the increase of element quality and the reduction of element
Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion is considered for the soil. quality are equal, overall, the quality of the system is
The fluid-structure coupling characteristics of soil are con- conserved.
sidered for the analysis of pore water pressure, and the
Goodman element is used to simulate the contact behavior Setting of Boundary Conditions
between pile and soil. The according mesh is shown in In dynamic problems, the selection of boundary conditions
Figure 12. is one of the main contents. With the existence of wave
reflection on boundary, there is an important influence on
Selecting Damping the result of dynamic analysis. If the scope of the analysis
Damping mainly comes from the internal friction of materi- model is greater, the analysis result will be better, but the
als as well as the possible existence of the sliding of surface larger model will lead to huge burden in calculation. The free
contact. Three damping forms are provided by FLAC3D, field boundary in the FLAC3D can be used to effectively
such as Rayleigh damping, local damping, and hysteretic reduce the wave reflection on boundary of the model, and
damping (Siskind et al. 1980). The local damping is used get the same effect as the infinite space. The research object
in this study, and 0.1571 is taken as local damping coef- of this article is the soil around the pile, and this is an infinite
ficient. Through the method of increasing or reducing the foundation problem, so the free field boundary can be set
quality of the joint or the node of structural element, the around the perimeter of the model, and the side boundary
convergence can be gained in the vibration cycle because of the main mesh can be coupled with the free field mesh

Fig. 11. Layout of the depth of observation points.

 Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline 9
Table 4. Contrast of pore water pressure between measured
values and calculated value(3#8 pile) (kPa)
Maximum pore Minimum pore
water pressure water pressure
Number of
measuring Measured Calculated Measured Calculated
points values value values value

M1a 223.85 227.40 221.99 226.40

M1b 404.46 403.10 399.44 400.60
M2b 486.27 488.40 459.23 487.10
M3a 289.74 282.90 272.81 279.70
M3b 230.03 232.90 228.69 229.70
M3c 154.36 157.80 153.24 155.10
M4a 272.80 276.00 271.65 273.80
M4b 308.25 309.80 307.07 308.60
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M4c 159.37 164.30 158.25 161.20

Fig. 13. Function curve of time and load.
measured values are more similar, the model precision can
meet the engineering requirements.
by the damper. The mesh of the calculation model after
applying free field boundary is shown in Figure 12.
Safety Assessment
Impact Load
The modified model is used to forecast the vibration near the
The dynamic load can be exerted on the model boundary or buried pipes when 1#, 2# mooring piers are constructed, it
internal nodes to simulate the structure’s response under the is found that the biggest predicted value of vibration velocity
action of external or internal dynamic force in FLAC3D. is 6.1 mm=s in all the measuring points when the 2# mooring
The vertical concentrated load acting on the pile top, chan- pier is constructed (Table 5 shows the forecast and monitor-
ging according to the harmonic function, is used to simulate ing datum of 2#8 pile in 2# mooring pier which is closest to
the impact load in this article. The function curve of time the buried pipeline), which is below 20 mm=s, the threshold
and load is shown in Figure 13. of peak vibration velocity, so the construct is normally
 
2p proceeding. In the process of construction, the maximum
F ðtÞ ¼ 2600 kN  sin t : ðn  1Þ measured value of peak velocity is 7.9 mm=s, which also
0:036 ð5Þ
meets the safety limit. According to the measured values of
 1:33  t  ðn  1Þ  1:33 þ 0:018: lateral displacement, the maximum value of lateral displace-
ment of the place 10 m away from the submarine pipeline is
about 5.98 < 8 mm, which meet the given security threshold
Comparative Analysis of Monitoring and Calculation
of lateral displacement.
Results
When it is predicted 1# mooring pier close to the submar-
The construction monitoring datum of 3# mooring pier is ine pipeline, we find the situation that the maximum peak
used to modify the numerical model, the soil parameters speed is close to or exceeds the safety limits due to the nearer
are gradually adjusted to make the results of the calculation distance and the possible accident collision between the con-
and the measured results to be more closed. The contrasts structing pile and the existing piles of old mooring pier (if the
between calculated and measured values of peak velocity accident collision happens between the piles, the peak speed
and pore water pressure are shown in Tables 3 and 4. The has a three times bigger than the normal peak speed, and this
datum in the table shows that predicted values and the actually happens in conducting of 2# mooring pier), so we

Table 3. Contrast between measured peak velocity values and calculated value (3#8 pile) (mm=s)

The depth of the The depth of the The depth of the The depth of the
pile 36.44 m pile 45.23 m pile 52.89 m pile 60.78 m
Number of
measuring Measured Measured Measured Measured Measured Measured Measured Measured
points direction values values values values values values values values

M2b xy 2.91 2.08 1.89 1.63 3.26 2.52 2.27 2.61

z 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.8 1.5 0.8 1.5
M3a xy 1.36 1.06 1.22 0.99 1.39 1.35 1.48 1.41
z 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.9
 10 J. Su et al.

Table 5. Contrast of peak velocity between predicted and

measured values (2#8 pile) (mm=s)
Number of measuring points

M1a M1b M2a M2b M3a M4a M5

Predicted values 6.1 5.2 5.9 5.2 3.1 4.8 0.5

Measured values 7.5 6.7 7.9 6.8 3.6 5.1 1.6

stop the plan about 1# mooring pier construction from a

security point of view.

Analysis and Discussion

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Variety Law of the Peak Velocity

To know the propagation attenuation rule of vibration of
soil in complex soil stratums, a monitoring path is set up
in the numerical model, the monitoring path along the near- Fig. 15. Vibration attenuation curve of soil along depth at 50 m
est way from 2#8 pile to the buried pipe, the nearest point is away from the pile.
2 m from the 2#8 pile, and the furthest point is 50 m from
the 2#8 pile. Using the results of numerical simulation of
the 2#8 pile, we can get the vibration attenuation rules vibration increases around 25 m because the pile endpoint
of points on monitoring path with depth when the bottom is at 25 m. The pile endpoint compresses soil and vibrates
of the pile injection coordinate is 25 m. The vibration violently at this depth, and the energy in the form of
attenuation curve with depth of the nearest point and the compression wave spreads outward; the distance for the
furthest point are shown in Figures 14 and 15. According monitoring point is shortest, under the condition of without
to Figures 14 and 15, the peak velocity of vibration in the considering material difference, the damping loss and geo-
earth’s surface is greater than the peak velocity of vibration metric loss of the energy is the minimum, and it superposes
in the deep soil obviously. The peak velocity of vibration with shear wave which is produced by pile friction with the
attenuates with the depth on the whole, but there is an obvi- soil. Vibration attenuation rule along the depth direction
ous increase of the vibration of the soil around 25 m. The of the far point does not change significantly because the
peak velocity attenuation rule of vibration with depth is effect of the complexity of soil becomes more apparent with
similar to the literature (Masoumi, Degrande, and the increasing wave propagation distance.
Lombaert 2007; Masoumi, François, and Degrande 2009; Figure 16 shows the attenuation rule of peak horizontal
Khoubani and Ahmadi 2014) on the whole, but the velocity of vibration and peak vertical velocity of vibration

Fig. 14. Vibration attenuation curve of soil along depth at 2 m Fig. 16. Vibration velocity attenuation curve of soil along
away from the pile. distance.
 Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline 11
Table 6. Relationship of the vibration velocity and penetration

depth=m penetration=mm peak velocity of vibration=mm=s

55.31 11.9 1.8

55.80 4.76 2.1

when the pile endpoint of 2#8 pile is at 25 m. It shows that

the attenuation of peak horizontal velocity of vibration is
more intense in closer distance from the pile, this is because
the horizontal vibration is caused by the compression
wave (longitudinal wave), compression wave travels fast
and the energy attenuates quickly; the attenuation of peak
horizontal velocity of vibration is not intense further than
30 m from the pile.
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Pile Penetration Influence on Peak Velocity of Vibration Fig. 18. Change curve of pore water pressure of point M1a.

As the factors affecting the magnitude of vibration velocity

caused by pile driving are numerous, such as the burial the similar pile bottom elevation (55.80 and 55.31 m) is
depth of the pile, pile driving position, the soil type, etc., selected, the relationship of the vibration velocity and pen-
it is difficult to analyze the penetration’s influence on peak etration of measuring point M1a is shown in Table 6.
velocity magnitude of vibration of soil when pile is driving. According to the Table 6, peak velocity of vibration
To eliminate the influence of other factors besides pen- becomes great when the penetration becomes small. When
etration, we used an example of 3# mooring pier 8# pile the penetration is small, the energy which is used for pile
to illustrate the influence of penetration on peak velocity sinking is reduced; the rest of the energy will make the soil
of vibration of soil. According to the record of pile driving, vibrate.

Fig. 17. Horizontal displacement change curve of point M4.

 12 J. Su et al.
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Fig. 19. Relationship curve of tide and the pore water pressure of measuring point M1b.

Change Law of the Horizontal Deformation of the Soil Change Law of Pore Water Pressure
The soil deformation is mainly caused by the vibration and According to the results of previous studies, the influence of
the compaction effect during pile driving. In this project, the pile driving on pore water pressure is mainly within the
horizontal displacement change curve during construction of range of 5D (D is the diameter of pile). To determine
point M4a is shown in Figure 17. According to Figure 17, (1) whether the soil will damage due to pile driving vibration,
the overall trend of the horizontal displacement is increasing the measuring point M1a is selected as the research object
with the decrease of the soil layer depth, and the maximal when driving the five piles, such as 2#1 pile, 2#2 pile,
displacement is less than 11 mm; (2) due to the differences 2#5 pile, 2#7 pile, and 2#8 pile (the distance from the mea-
of the soil, the horizontal displacement does not ideally suring point1-1 is about 16–24 m). Figure 18 shows the curve
increase with the decrease of the soil layer depth, and of pore water pressure along with the pile-driving process.
the maximum horizontal deformation is at the height According to the figure, the effect of pile driving on the pore
20.80 m (in muddy silty clay); (3) the displacement water pressure in soil is not obvious in this project, the
decreases in the height 26.5 m, it is mainly because this part change of pore water pressure is no more than 3 kPa, that
is in the depth of the buries pipes, the buried pipes amplify is at around 1% of the total pore water pressure. It shows
the stiffness of soil; (4) for the construction of the first four that the pore water pressure will not impact obviously on
piles, the soil horizontal displacement changes obviously. the strength of the soil and the submarine pipeline in this
The deformation of soil has obvious hysteresis along time, project.
and the change of horizontal displacement of soil is less During the project, the relationship of tide and the pore
during the later pile driving. water pressure is found unexpectedly. Figures 19 and 20

Fig. 20. Relationship curve of tide and the pore water pressure of measuring point M1a.
 Safety Assessment of Buried Pipeline 13

show the relationship curves of tide and the pore water Jiangsu Province Outstanding Youth (Grant No.
pressure of measuring point M1a and M1b. According to BK20140027), the Foundation for the Author of National
the curve, there is a certain correlation between the pore Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of PR China (Grant No.
water pressure and tide. The fluctuations of tidal play an 201353), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
important role on the change of pore water pressure. Central Universities (Grant No. 2242013R30014).
Besides, the permeability coefficient has a certain effect on
the pore water pressure; the permeability coefficient of point
M1a is larger, so the change of pore water pressure with tide References
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