This paper on "Reliability of Finite Element Modelling of Soil Backed, Subsea Pipelines Under Dynamic Loading" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on Design, Simulation & Optimisation: Reliability & Applicability of Computational Methods - 9-11 April 1997, Stuttgart, Germany.

Summary

The variability of sub-sea, soil condition demands that realistic finite element modelling process involve the use of soil models, which have been developed to simulate soil conditions ranging from fully cohesive to fully frictional. Such finite element models should be robust enough to achieve reliable solutions when different mesh and integration rules are adopted, and when different formulations are used to reflect the two-phase media nature of saturated soils. This paper studies the suitability of state of the art finite element modelling for achieving these objectives for soil-backed pipelines, under loading conditions which vary from impact to simulated earthquake loading.