Ace Drokch- criteria for the backfilling—-~— f excavated trenches for a iipelines, transmission lines y,. ca nd immersed tunnels Arcbor #h J. Marco Groot Trechnh 6 ammary -veral aspects of backfilling and the covering of trenches are considered. First ime possible causes of damage to trenched pipelines, transmission lines and nels are mentioned, after which measures which offer protection against these uses of damage will be discussed. ~ \ily execution aspects are presented. Various rock dumping techniques are cussed followed by some case studies. wroduction renching is a commonly accepted method of burying various pipelines, ansmission lines, sewage outfalls and tunnels. Jowever, in most cases trenching without backfill gis not acceptable and most overnment agencies do have backfilling or covering requirements. Although vese vary significantly and are continuously changing, nobedy now doubts the portance of such regulations. For tunnels and pipelines the main reason for ackfilling is to provide stability against hydro-dynamic forces. ‘urthermore backfilling and/or covering will offer protection against scour and ‘ossible forces such as impact of dropped objects, dragging anchors and fishing cer. Although itis difficult to predict the occurrence of incidents to pipelines exactly, it an be stated that in areas with much shipping or fishing activity or in coastal _~eas. the protection of pipelines, cables and outfalls is necessary. \nis paper will discuss in general: possible causes of damage to trenched tunnels and pipelines ~several methods offering protection against possible damage ~execytion aspects of backfilling and covering ~case studies Possible causes of damage to pipelines, transmission lines and immersed tunnels Dragging anchors are the nightmare of government agencies and in particular of operators. There is a general world- wide agreement that trenching and the burial of pipelines do not offer any real protection against anchors from larger ships. According to figure 1 the maximum burial depth of ships anchors of 20 tons weight is 3m, however, in soft seabeds (Goft clay, mud, etc.) this burial depth may increase 10 10m. Recent developments in anchor con- struction techniques have led to hold- ing forces exceeding one hundred times the weight of the anchor itself. This can mainly be achieved by using advanced design techniques in which anchors immediately start to bury themselves. These developments might indeed be favourable for ship- ping, but for trenched objects, . aan lla.) ; Johan Marco Groot, the author of the TADC Award paper which is published here, is at present Deputy Head of the Engineering Department of ACZ Marine Contractors B.V., at Gorinchem, The Netherlands. He was born in 1957 in The Netherlands and became a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering atthe Technical University Delft. During 1981-1982 he was a Sciemtfic ‘Assistant of the Coastal Engineering Group of that University. He joined the Research and Development Department of ACZ in 1982. The author has been involved in the design of offshore pipelines and their protection and stabilisation. He was further involved in the design of artificial islands, coastal protection works, in general offshore approaches and sewage outfalls. He published a oper on the placing of geotextiles in deep water, atthe Third International Conference on Geotextiles which took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1986, , Terra et Aqua 36however, an injurious effect. they have In most cases when suitable proce- dures are established for construction, vessels working in the vicinity, anchor hooking damage can be prevented. Qualified supervision is necessary. However, in the vicinity of platforms in anchor zones, shipping lanes, etc., the possibility of a dragging or falling anchor can never be neglected. “litting or hooking of fishing gear Fishing gear, trawl boards and beam trawlers can cause serious damage to pipelines and in particular to cables. However, the use of a high quality reinforced concrete weight coating can further reduce the possibility of dam- age to large diameter pipelines. Cable trenches have to be backfilled to with- stand the attack of fishing gear, Freespans in cables and pipelines (which occur on almost all pipelines) are potentially dangerous and are likely to be hooked by fishing gear. Taking into account the very high breaking strength of cables attached to modern fishing gear, hooking can re~ sult in very serious damage. Creria for bockfiling of excavated tenches!Groot 1. “Jan Steen”, one of the six stone- ‘dumping vessels owned by ACZ Marine Contractors. Figure 1. Relation between the tonnage of ships, the anchor weight and the burial depth. Figure 2. Fishing gear hiting an exposed pipeline.‘Stonne anchor gon Boe ot opt re dent depth (mm) Figure 2 illustrates the potential dan- gef of fishing gear to power and telecommunication cables. The Netherlands Telephone Directo- ~ te (PTT) has had more than 300 -idents with cables in the North Sea during the last 10 years. In all cases the transmission cables were seriously damaged. The cables lie exposed on the seabottom. Dropped objects Dropped objects may also cause dam- age to pipelines, close to offshore platforms and other places where peo- ple are working above the water sur- face. ‘The chance of an object being dropped is always present. Dropped objects such as drill collars, containers and riser pipes, but also anchors and con- _ struction parts. may cause severe dam= “e to tunnels. pipelines and cables if .ese are not protected by a covering fayer. The impact forces depend on the mass and the terminal velocity of the falling object as well as the time of impact. Further details will be discus- sed later. Rapid morphological changes of the seabed (sand and mud waves) Rapid morphological changes of the seabed. for example large sand and mud waves or a significant degradation of the shoreline due to wave action, can result in partial exposure of an originally buried pipeline or in large freespans. Especially in areas where large sand or mud waves travel at an angle over the pipeline special attention should be paid to the protection or stabilisation (figure 4). Apart from the fact that large free- spans result in unacceptable stresses in the pipeline due to static deformation, vibrations are likely to occur, resulting. in fatigue problems and the freespan is an invitation for hooking anchors and fishing gear to be most damaging. Furthermore, due to large sand waves, the cover layer required to provide a safeguard against buoyancy of a tunnel might temporarily disappear, resulting in possible uplift of the tunnel. It is not necessary to explain that such mecha- nisms can cause substantial damage. Normal trenching or burying will not give sufficient protection in these cases. Protection of pipelines, transmis lines and immersed tunnels Once a tunnel, pipeline or cable has been placed in a trench, the trench should be backfilled and covered, in ‘order to provide protection against the previously mentioned possible causes of damage. Extensive studies have been carried out on the natural backfilling of tren- ches. Certain current and wave condi- tions will result in the trench being filled up again after some time. However, due to many uncertainties with respect to the actual soil con tions and_the period of time involved for ngeftal backfilling, one usually prefers to construct the backfill. Backfilling with original seabed materi When there are no specific safety requirements such as those for protec- tion against anchors, etc., backfilling with the original seabed material seems to be sufficient. However, usually this backfilled “material is loosely packed and therefore sensitive to erosion due to currents. Furthermore, loosely packed material can be sensitive to liquefaction due to vibrations during storms or earth- quakes. The backfilled soil material will then act as a heavy fluidum, causing possible uplift of the pipeline. ‘Trenches are therefore usually backfil- led with other material. Backfilling with granular material To provide protection against the above mentioned danger of liquefac- tion, backfilling with coarse sand is usually sufficient. If protection is also required against scour, the top layer of the backfilled material should be stable under all circumstances: The size of the re- Quired gravel or rock material can be determined. in relation to the actual current and wave conditions. To avoic Terra et Aqua