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Deep Water Tool for In-situ Pipe-soil Interaction Measurement: Recent

Developments and System Improvement
R. Denis and C De Brier/Fugro
Copyright 2010, Offshore Technology Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2010 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 36 May 2010.
This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of OTC copyright.

Abstract
Due to unknowns in soil behaviour, a new deep water in-situ system has been designed to measure the interaction forces
between the seabed and pipelines in the vertical, axial, and lateral directions. The system was used for the first time in
deepwater in 2008. Several lessons were learnt during this deployment and significant modifications of the system were
carried-out before mobilisation of the equipment on a second deepwater project in 2009. The paper summarizes the recent
developments of the system and presents typical testing procedure and test results with an emphasis on how a better
knowledge of the pipe-soil interaction can improve reliability of pipeline design.
Introduction
The understanding of pipe-soil interaction for High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) pipelines installed in deepwater
weak soils is of paramount importance for reliable pipeline design. Considerable advancements have been made recently in
the study of pipe-soil interaction at low effective stresses. However, there are still some knowledge gaps and assumptions to
be validated (Hill and Jacob, 2008) motivating the need for in-situ measurements. The FUGRO SMARTPIPE was
developed to fulfil this need. The in-situ soil-pipe interaction results allow to investigate the fundamental properties of the
deepwater near surface soils such as consolidation rates or pore pressure response during pipe movement. With this
knowledge, it is possible to test and calibrate theoretical and empirical models against real pipe behaviour and in-situ
(undisturbed) soil conditions.
This paper presents recent developments of the SMARTPIPE tool following lessons learnt from the first deepwater
deployment in 2008. The paper focuses on the main operational and Data Acquisition (DAQ) issues encountered during field
work operations and on how these issues where addressed in order to ensure reliable measurements. A description of the
system is provided. Main findings following the first deep water deployment (offshore West Africa, 2008) are described
including recent system developments. Typical results of the last site investigation (Offshore West Africa, 2009) are
presented to illustrate the capabilities of the equipment. Interpretation of test results collected during this project will be
presented in a follow-up paper.
System Description
This section provides a brief overview of the system. More detailed information on the system can be found in Jacob and
Looijen (2008) and in Hill and Wintgens (2009).
FUGRO SMARTPIPE is an instrumented section of polypropylene-coated steel pipe section which measures forces and
pore pressures in-situ whilst it is being penetrated into the soil, during consolidation and then subsequent movement in the
axial and lateral directions. It is deployed within a seabed frame through an A-frame typically mounted on a geotechnical
investigation vessel. The output from the instrumentation is acquired in real-time via a fibre optic cable. The seabed frame is
equipped with a data acquisition (DAQ) system container, a lamp/camera control unit and a hydraulic power pack (UPU).
The equipment was originally designed for use in very soft clay soils commonly encountered in deepwater but it could be

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used in other conditions provided that the available reaction forces are sufficient. The maximum operational water depth is
2500 m. An illustration of the current system configuration is provided in Figure 1.
The frame is equipped with various sensors, including a frame settlement plate for measuring the settlement of the frame
into the seabed, roll and pitch sensors and a CTD profiler. A mini-Tbar is mounted on the frame to measure the resistance of
the soil.
The pipe section has an outside diameter of 225 mm and is 1200 mm long, including the dummy sections at each end,
which are designed to reduce end effects. The instrumented central section of the pipe is mechanically isolated from the end
sections and is 776 mm long. The central section is equipped with nine pore pressure transducers (PPTs) mounted in the
underside of the pipe section and two triaxial load cells measuring the forces acting on the pipe in three orthogonal directions.
The system can be operated in load control mode (vertical direction only) or in displacement control mode (vertical, axial
and lateral direction). Displacement rate in the axial direction allows to simulate slow (0.04 mm/sec) or fast (0.12
mm/sec) pipe movement. Lateral and axial displacement controlled movement can be combined with vertical load-controlled
movement. Cyclic testing is possible in the three directions.
Deployement History
The SMARTPIPE system successfully completed three trials performed between January 2007 and March 2008 before
it was deployed in deep water. Two projects took place offshore West Africa in 2008 and 2009 in water depths between 1700
m and 2000 m. Between these two deep water projects, a fourth trial took place in the North Sea during June 2009, where the
water depth was approximately 30 m.
Figure 2 shows the deployment of the system using the A-frame (second deepwater deployment).
First Deepwater deployment (2008)
Summary of field operations, soil conditions and testing program
Objectives of the Fugro SMARTPIPE first deployment were to assess the functionality of the equipment and
instrumentation in a deep water environment and to identify potential modifications to improve operational performances and
data reliability. This site investigation took place offshore West Africa in 2008 and the frame was deployed at two locations.
The soil conditions at these locations consisted of very soft clay and were similar to those observed during the standard
geotechnical investigation that took place before the SMARTPIPE operations. The clay was characterized by a 5 to 15 cm
thick slurry layer (Figure 3) with undrained shear strengths of less than 1 kPa. The clay underlying the slurry displayed an
undrained shear strength gradient of approximately 10 kPa/m (Figure 4). The water depth at the location was about 2000 m.
Testing program included eleven vertical penetration tests, three axial tests and three lateral tests.
Interpretation of the data collected provided interesting results. For example, further analyses of the pore pressure
dissipation after the vertical test showed that the lay-induced pore pressures will dissipate within days not weeks as initially
thought. In practical terms, this means that a higher friction may be available sooner than initially thought, limiting risks of
pipeline walking.
More details on the testing program, testing procedure and test results are provided in Hill and Wintgens (2009).
Main Findings and lessons learnt
The West Africa project was the first time the new tool was deployed in deep water. Globally, the system proved to
operate satisfactory and the instrumentation performed relatively well (Hill and Wintgens ,2009). The collected data were of
general good quality and proved to be very useful for the understanding of pipe-soil interaction mechanisms. Although these
relatively good performances, some areas of improvement were identified. Two of them related to data quality are described
here below, others improvements are described in section titled System Modifications And Improvements.
Load drift
When deployed to deep water, the vertical and axial load sensors showed a water-depth related load drift (continuous load
increase with time).

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Field results were corrected by offsetting the measured signal by the value of the measured drift at zero loads. However,
further investigations were required in order to 1) verify the drift correction applied on field results and 2) find the cause of
the load drift and eliminate/mitigate its effects on data quality. An extensive onshore testing program including pressurizing
tests was therefore carried-out after the first offshore deployment. Eventually, the cause of the load drift was identified
leading to modifications of the measurement system (load-cells). Subsequent lab test results and second deep-water
deployment confirmed the effectiveness of the modified system.
Settlement of seabed frame into the seabed
A second issue was the over-penetration of the frame into the very soft seabed during the first test causing the
instrumented pipe to be in contact with the soil (Figure 5) before applying any loads. Following this observation, the frame
was then equipped (onboard the vessel) with mudmats (steel bearing plates) to improve its stability on the seabed. This
proved to be successful as no further over-penetration was observed on remaining test locations. After demobilisation, the
frame was further modified and is now equipped with four extendable mud mats, dubbed mud flaps that reduce frame
settlement in very soft soil top layers of 1 kPa or less. These mud mats are activated before touch down on the seabed and can
be retracted for handling on the deck.
These findings (and others) led to further modifications of the tool and are summarised in the next section.
System Modifications And Improvements
Results of the first deep water deployment were sufficiently encouraging to plan modifications of the system. Based on
the experience acquired during this first deployment the following modifications were implemented:
Re-configuration of the seabed frame in order to make the overall footprint smaller and
deployment easier;
Installation of extendable mudmats and skirt arrangements;
Development and installation of a Launch and Recovery System (LARS) to speed-up deployment,
improve safety and protect equipment from damage during launch or recovery of the frame
(Figure 6);
Re-configuration of the loadcell to eliminate load drift and minimize cross-sensitivity effects (i.e.
mutual influence of loading in X, Y and Z directions);
Re-design of the lateral displacement actuator mechanism;
Development of a modular seabed frame for both SMARTSURFTM 1 and SMARTPIPE. The
modular design allows for alternate use of either the SMARTSURFTM module or the
SMARTPIPE module, thus cutting down on cost and limiting the amount of equipment to be
mobilised;
Re-design of the umbilical head for more robustness;
Enhanced camera features.

SMARTSURFTM is a newly developed deep water seabed system designed to perform a series of geotechnical in situ
tests within a single footprint and is specifically designed to carry out high quality investigations of the topmost soil layers in
weak seabed conditions (less than 5 kPa). FUGRO SMARTSURFTM is equipped with a ROSON type hydraulic wheeldrive
for Cone or T-bar testing with an effective stroke of 3 meters (4.5 m optional), a dedicated mini-T-bar cylinder with an
effective stroke of 1 m, and a 2 meter stroke piston sampler with a plastic liner. Like the SMARTPIPE, the system is
capable of working in water depths of 2500 m.

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Results From Second Deepwater Deployement (2009)

Summary of field work operations and testing procedure
The second offshore SMARTPIPE deployment took place offshore West Africa. The frame was deployed in 1700 m of
water depth at one location where four axial tests where performed. Several combinations of pipe embedment and pipe
weight were tested at different axial displacement rates. Each axial test was preceded by a consolidation test (approximately 4
hours). A summary of tests performed is provided in Table 1.

TESTING
NO.
1

ACHIEVED
PIPE WIEGHT

Table 1: Summary of tests performed

ACHIEVED
PIPE
TYPE OF TEST
EMBEDMENT 2

Full stroke cycles Displacement

controlled

DEEP
z = 65 mm
z/D = 0.75

HEAVY
1.60 kN

MEDIUM
0.85 kN

SHALLOW
z = 80 mm
z/D = 0.35

HEAVY
1.35 kN

SHALLOW
z = 80 mm
z/D = 0.35

LIGHT
0.37 kN

SHALLOW
z = 40 mm
z/D = 0.18

Mini T-Bar
Cyclic Vertical
Test
Cyclic Mini T-Bar
Vertical Test
Consolidation
Axial Test
Axial Test
Vertical Test
Vertical Test
Consolidation
Axial Test
Axial Test
Vertical Test
Consolidation
Axial Test
Axial Test
Mini T-Bar
Vertical Test
Consolidation
Axial Test
Axial Test

TESTING
SEQUENCE

Full stroke
2.5 cycles
2 cycles
Displacement control
1 hour
1 sweep slow
1 seep fast
Load Control
Load control
4 hours
8 sweeps slow
7 sweeps fast
Load Control
4 hours
8 sweeps slow
7 sweeps fast
Full stroke
Load Control
4 hours
9 sweeps slow
5 sweeps fast

Soil conditions
Soil conditions at tested locations were very similar to the soil conditions encountered during the first deep water
deployment. They consisted of very soft clay and within the upper 5 to 15 cm, the undrained shear strength was generally less
than 1 kPa, and often less than 0.5 kPa (slurry layer). The shear strength increased with depth below the slurry layer at
approximately 10 kPa/m based on T-bar test results.
Example of field test results Axial response
Figure 7 shows typical results of a vertical test followed by axial testing sequences (test No. 3). It presents displacement,
loads and pore pressure response versus time for a pipe embedment of 80 mm (below the bottom of the slurry layer). In this
example, the testing sequence includes consolidation test (approximately 4 hours) followed by cyclic axial displacements in
both directions of approximately 0.3D (except for the last slow and fast sweeps where the displacement was approximately
0.5D). Each axial displacement was followed by short pause periods (30 minutes) to allow dissipation of excess pore
pressure. This sequence is similar to what a pipeline may experience during walking (axial pipe movement under cycles of
expansion-contraction due to temperature and/or pressure variations). The test was performed at two different axial speeds
(approximately 0.05 mm/sec and 0.13 mm/sec). Figure 8 presents the normalized axial load (i.e. the measured axial force
divided by the applied vertical load).
Interpretation of SMARTPIPE test results of the second deep-water investigation is currently underway. It is expected
that analyses performed on those results will provide a better understanding of soil-pipe interaction, for example, the
2

measured below the slurry layer

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influence of the axial displacement rate on mobilisation distance and axial resistance (friction factor). Results of the data
interpretation and analyses will be presented in a follow-up paper.
Conclusion
This paper presented the latest developments of the Fugro SMARTPIPE following the lessons learnt during the first and
second deep water mobilizations. Main concerns were related to the important water depths at which sensitive equipments
such as triaxial loadcells have to operate (load drift) and to the particular nature of the encountered soils (very soft clay) that
caused excessive settlements of the frame. Since the first deployment, the system has been continuously improved both in
terms of the reliability of the data collected and operational performances. The newly developed modular seabed frame
(combining SMARTPIPE and SMARTSURFTM) may offer enhanced testing and sampling capabilities in comparison with
standard geotechnical site investigation tools.
Typical test results were presented with an insight of how a better knowledge of the pipe-soil interaction can improve the
reliability of pipeline design. Interpretation of these results including more practical implications for pipeline design will be
presented in a follow-up paper.
References
Bruton D.A.S., White D.J., Langford T., Hill AJ. (2009), Pipe-soil interaction testing for a deep water project on soft clay, SUT
Conference, Perth, Australia.
Hill, A.J. and Jacob, H. (2008), In-Situ Measurement of Pipe-Soil Interaction in Deep Water. Proc. Offshore Technology Conference,
Houston, USA. Paper OTC 19528.
Jacob, H. and Looijen, P. (2008), Development of a Deepwater Tool for In-Situ Pipe-Soil Interaction Measurement and its Benefits in
Pipeline Analysis. Offshore Pipeline Technology Conference and Exhibition, Amsterdam.
Hawkins, R. and Wintgens, J.F. (2007), In-situ Measurement of Pipe-Soil Interaction in Deep Water Very Soft Clay and Direct Use in
Pipeline Design. PetroMin Deep Water and Subsea Technology Conference and Exhibition, 2930 Oct 2007, Kuala Lumpur.

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Figure 1: Actual System Configuration

Figure 2: deployment of the smartpipe using the a-frame (2009 OFFSHORE DEPLOYMENT)

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Figure 3: BoX CORE SAMPLE (2008 OFFSHORE SITE INVESTIGATION) SHOWING THE SLURRY LAYER

Figure 4: CYCLIC T-Bar test results (2008 Offshore site investigation)

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Figure 5: camera view showing the OVER-PENETRATED PIPE during touchdown on seabed

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Figure 6: Launch And Recovery System (LARS)

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Figure 7: Testing sequence example (vertical penetration followed by a consolidation test and cyclic axial displacements)

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Figure 8: Axial Test Field results