Ultra deep water subsea pipeline design & assessment

The ultra-deep water is a severe condition that leads to a challenge to the subsea pipeline during installation and operation. Subsea pipeline is subjected to extreme internal and external pressures. The difference of internal and external pressures in ultra-deep water is a critical issue in selection of wall thickness of subsea pipeline to be safe during installation and operation. In this paper, design and assessment of subsea pipeline in ultra-deep water is presented using Subsea Pro Simulation based on safety zone. In the software, the safety zone is determined based on internal and external loads acting on subsea pipeline. Results of simulation agree with current operating wall thickness.