The Simulation and Sensitivity Analysis of S-Lay Installation in Deep Water

Pipelines being laying is subjected the high external water pressure, axial tension and bending moment, influencing the large deformation and the stability of pipelines. It is a key problem about the pipeline deformation and stress analysis under installation. The paper is focused on the analysis of the S-Lay method in deep water, modeling the deepwater S-lay installations considering interactions among the pipeline and stinger and the barge, which make the simulations more realistic. The large work of the paper issues the sensitivity analysis in the installation procedure, several examples are presented to calculate the pipeline configuration and mechanical analysis for different laying water depth, pipe diameter, thickness of wall and concrete weighted coating layer and stinger radius. Some results are presented as well.