Marine growth has a stabilising effects on subsea pipelines

Description

A multidisciplinary project at UWA in collaboration with the oil and gas industry has yielded very promissing results. The experiments conducted in the UWA O-Tube facility showed that the presence of marine growth on cylinders on the seafloor contribute to their stability. Marine growth has a tendency to accumulate at place where the pipe does not touch the seafloor (spans) and it was shown to disrupt the water flow in such a way that no vortex are being shed in the wake. This goes against the paradigm that spans will create vortex induced vibrations and create pipe fatigue, which could ultimately result in catastrophic failure.