Improving seabed cable plough performance for offshore renewable energy

Robinson, S; Brown, M.J.; Brennan, A.J.; Cortis, M.; Augarde, C.E.; Coombs, W.M.

Abstract

Seabed ploughing plays an important part in providing protection to subsea cables that connect offshore renewables, and the process represents a significant portion of the overall installation cost. Current models for predicting the required tow forces for seabed ploughs are based on semi-empirical methods as conventional geotechnical finite element analysis is not suited to modelling this process due to the large de-formations involved. The project described in this paper aims to develop a new material point method numerical modelling software to predict seabed plough response, which will enable new designs to be optimised. This will be validated against physical modelling, a part of which is the focus of this paper. This includes both 1g and centrifuge testing as well as new techniques such as 3D soil surface scanning. The testing also provides insights into share geometry influences on plough behaviour, and will allow improvements to existing empirical models.

Citation

Robinson, S., Brown, M., Brennan, A., Cortis, M., Augarde, C., & Coombs, W. (2016, October). Improving seabed cable plough performance for offshore renewable energy. Presented at 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore, Lisbon, Spain

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore
• Start Date: Oct 24, 2016
• End Date: Oct 26, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Aug 21, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Oct 13, 2016
• Publication Date: Oct 13, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 30, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 13, 2018
• Pages: 1-7
• Book Title: Progress in renewable energies offshore : proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore (RENEW2016), Lisbon, Portugal, 24-26 October 2016.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315229256
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1150052
• Publisher URL: http://www.routledge.com/9781138626270
• Additional Information: Conference dates: 24-26 October 2016