APPLICATION OF OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES TO MINIMIZE THE EFFECTS OF VORTEX-INDUCED VIBRATION (VIV) IN FREE SPANNING PIPELINES

Resumo

The use of submarine pipelines to transport oil and gas is a common practice. However, one of
the main problems associated with the use of this technology is related to the irregularities of the seabed,
which creates regions with free spans, propitiating the occurrence of the phenomenon of vortex-induced
vibration (VIV). The design of pipelines in regions with free spans involves a thorough evaluation, which
allows identifying the VIV and the probable damage due to fatigue, to find out the need to increase the
operational life of pipelines. A widely used method for VIV mitigation is the reduction of the effective
length of the span installing supports at strategic points of the pipeline, minimizing the fatigue damage.
The search for these points can be seen as an optimization problem to identify the position and the
adequate amount of supports to minimize the occurrence of VIV. Thus, this work consists of a study on
the use of optimization techniques to identify the most suitable configuration for the installation of the
supports, assisting in the development of pipelines projects. For that, different situations were analyzed,
involving the change of bathymetry and the variation of the effective span length.