Proceedings of the Thirty-second (2022) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference
Shanghai, China, June 5–10, 2022
Copyright © 2022 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)
ISBN 978-1-880653-81-4; ISSN 1098-6189

www.isope.org

Design and Construction of a Reduced-Scale Marine Pipeline Model for Experiment
Kuo Huang1, Yingfei Zan1*, Song Ding2, Duanfeng Han1
1. College of Shipbuilding Engineering, Harbin Engineering University.
Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
2. China Ship Research and Development Academy.
Beijing, China

hanging configuration under water. As a result, mechanical responses
including the axial tension and bending moment differ along the lengthof the whole pipeline (e.g., the free-hang section and the section on theseabed), and vary constantly in time domain. A comprehensive
understanding of the dynamic behavior of pipelines is fundamental to thesuccess of the offshore oil and gas production developments. This
understanding could reduce costs and ensure the safe operation ofpipeline systems in harsh environment (Morooka and Tsukada 2013).
For that understanding, a model experiment is necessary. That’s why areduced-scale pipeline model is essential to perform experimental study
on pipeline-involved operations in deep water such as pipe-laying,especially when the global response of the pipeline is the main concern.

ABSTRACTIn this study, a reduced-scale model of a marine pipeline is designed andconstructed in an innovative way for model experiment in the water tank.
The pipeline model proposed based on similarity criterions consists of aflexible tube, which is initially straight, and stainless steel powders
inside the tube. To determine the proper material for the tube of themodel, study on the elastic modulus and strength of several kinds ofpotential materials is carried out through mechanics experiments.
Polypropylene, which has never been considered for a marine pipelinemodel, is finally selected to be the fit-for-purpose material of the tube.

KEY WORDS: Pipeline model; similarity; stiffness; mechanics
experiment; material.

Since the shape taken up by a marine pipeline depends on multiple
factors including its submerged weight, its stiffness, and the external
forces applied to it, design of the reduced-scale model must take thosefactors into consideration and scale them correctly, based on similarity
criterions. Brown and Palmer (2007) derived the relevant governing
equations of a submerged pipeline, and from them come the conditions
required for the model to obey the correct mechanical similarity
conditions. The works by Rateiro et al. (2012) addresses the problem of
how to scale catenary riser model tests considering dynamic similarity.
They presented a review on the most important dynamic characteristics
and parameters, and analyzed a relevant group of representative
nondimensional numbers.

INTRODUCTION
As offshore oil and gas engineering operations usually involve thecooperation of multiple structures such as vessels, platforms, pipelines
and cables, their dynamic responses during operation could be complex.
Therefore, a model experiment plays an irreplaceable role in the design
and preparation of such kinds of operations, either to forecast thedynamic behavior of offshore structures and understand some of therelated phenomena, or to provide verification for theoretical models andsimulation systems that are being currently developed. In thoseoperations, marine pipelines in deep water are inevitably on a large
physical scale that requires great lengths of pipe (Brown and Palmer2007). On that large scale, marine pipelines are extremely flexible due
to large slenderness, even though they are made of steel and sometime
covered by concrete. Connected to floating structures like vessels andplatforms on the sea surface, during pipeline installation or permanently,
a portion of the pipeline (also known as risers) is basically in a free*

However, a complete similarity between prototype and model scale isdifficult to achieve due to inherent difficulties. Many previous researcheschose not to consider the accurate stiffness similarity of the pipelinemodel because it is difficult to be properly scaled.
The pipeline model in this study was designed and constructed for amodel experiment of pipe-laying operation carried out at the multi-Corresponding author

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