Subsea foundations
AssigneeSubsea 7 Norway AS
InventorsTorstein Meling, Marijana Tomas, Robert Archer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A subsea foundation for supporting a pipeline or a pipeline accessory has a mudmat and at least one pile arranged to anchor the mudmat by extending from the mudmat into seabed soil. A coupling that couples the pile to the mudmat has at least one interface member supported for angular displacement relative to the mudmat, such as a pivoting beam or a wedge-shaped adaptor ring, to accommodate the orientation of the mudmat relative to the pile.
Claims16
A subsea foundation for supporting a pipeline or a pipeline accessory, the foundation comprising:
- a mudmat;
- at least one pile arranged to anchor the mudmat in use by extending with a relative orientation from the mudmat into seabed soil;
- a coupling that couples the pile to the mudmat, the coupling comprising at least one interface member supported by the pile for angular displacement relative to the pile and to the mudmat to accommodate the orientation of the mudmat relative to the pile, the pile supporting the interface member in a direction along a central longitudinal axis of the pile;
- and
- a roll/pitch pivot member between the pile and the interface member, the roll/pitch pivot member being oriented to permit angular movement of the interface member about a transverse axis substantially orthogonal to the central longitudinal axis of the pile.
A subsea foundation for supporting a pipeline or a pipeline accessory, the foundation comprising:
- mudmat;
- at least one pile arranged to anchor the mudmat in use by extending with a relative orientation from the mudmat into seabed soil;
- a coupling that couples the pile to the mudmat, the coupling comprising at least one interface member supported by the pile for angular displacement relative to the pile and to the mudmat to accommodate the orientation of the mudmat relative to the pile, the pile supporting the interface member in a direction along a central longitudinal axis of the pile;
- and
- a yaw pivot member between the pile and the interface member, the yaw pivot member being oriented to permit angular movement of the interface member about the central longitudinal axis of the pile.
A method of installing a subsea foundation for supporting a pipeline or a pipeline accessory, the method comprising:
- installing a mudmat at a seabed location and subsequently anchoring the mudmat by installing at least one pile that extends with a relative orientation from the mudmat into seabed soil and is coupled to the mudmat;
- the method further comprising effecting angular displacement of an interface member relative to the mudmat and to the pile to accommodate the orientation of the mudmat relative to the pile, by effecting angular pitch or roll displacement of the interface member about a transverse axis substantially orthogonal to a central longitudinal axis of the pile while the interface member is supported by the pile in a direction along the central longitudinal axis of the pile.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.