Experimental and Numerical Study on Vortex-Induced Vibration Suppression by Helical Strakes on Subsea Pipelines

Abstract

A numerical simulation analysis is conducted to examine the unsteady hydrodynamic characteristics of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and the suppression effect of helical strakes on VIV in subsea pipelines. The analysis uses the standard k − ε turbulence model for 4.5- and 12.75-inch pipes, and its accuracy is verified by comparing the results with large-scale hydrodynamic experiments. These experiments are designed to evaluate the suppression efficiency of VIV with and without helical strakes, focusing on displacement and drag coefficients under different flow conditions. Furthermore, the influence of important geometric parameters of the helical strakes on drag coefficients and VIV suppression efficiency at different flow rates is compared and discussed. Numerical results agree well with experimental data for drag coefficient and vortex-shedding frequency. Spring-pipe self-excited vibration experimental tests reveal that the installation of helical strakes substantially reduces the drag coefficient of VIV within a certain flow rate range, achieving suppression efficiencies exceeding 90% with strake heights larger than 0.15D. Notably, the optimized parameter combination of helical strakes, with a pitch of 15D, a fin height of 0.2D, and 45° edge slopes, maintains high suppression efficiency, thereby exhibiting superior performance. This study provides a valuable reference for the design and application of helical strakes and VIV suppression in subsea engineering.

Keywords

Subsea pipeline / Helical strakes / Vortex-induced vibration / Lift-drag coefficient / Suppression

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Harbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature