SCOURING BELOW PIPELINES: THE ROLE OF VORTICITY AND TURBULENCE

A numerical study on the turbulence and vorticity of local scour underneath an offshore pipeline placed on a non-cohesive sandy seabed and forced by a steady flow current is presented. The numerical model solves the Navier-Stokes equations using an innovative Level Set technique. The model predicts the behavior of the movable sediments through both drift and lift force components. Mean and turbulent flow quantities were extracted by temporal averaging. Results on the distribution and evolution of turbulent kinetic energy and vorticity will be illustrated at the conference.