A section of a sub sea pipeline that is suspended between two points on an uneven seafloor is often referred to as 'a free span pipeline'. Pipelines, installed on a seabed with a highly irregular topography, may have to be designed with several free spans. If a free span is exposed to a current flow, vortex-induced vibrations (VTV) of the suspended part of the pipeline may occur. These vibrations may cause unacceptable fatigue damage in the structure. Statistical distributions of current speed and direction close to a small mountain on the seabed (approximately 20 m high and 40 m wide) are established based on full-scale measurements of the current velocity in the area. Some results from recent model tests of VIV in free span pipelines, including some tests in which the flow direction was not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe, are shown. These results indicate that it is sufficient to use the component of the current velocity vector that is normal to the pipe when using empirical models for estimating the response due to vortex shedding. An existing empirical model for analysis of VIV [1] is extended such as to include oscillations in the same plane as the current flow (in-line VIV). The effect of including the directional variability of the current when estimating the VIV fatigue damage, using the extended VIV model on a typical free span pipeline, is demonstrated, and found to be of great importance. A parameter study, in which the length of the free span is varied, is also carried out. The conclusion from this study is that a reduction of free span length affects the parameters that govern the accumulation of fatigue damage differently. Stresses are increased, but the number of current conditions capable of inducing VIV is reduced when the length of the span is reduced. It is therefore difficult to predict whether the accumulated damage will increase or decrease when the span length is reduced, and detailed analyses are required for each particular free span and current distribution. The damage from in-line VIV is generally lower than the damage from the cross flow VIV for all but the shortest span lengths.
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