Lateral Displacement Control Challenges for Installation of Floating HDPE Pipeline

HDPE pipe for marine application is commonly used for water intake, effluent outfall or water abstraction. The main reasons for this are PE has very high resistance to corrosion, low surface roughness which improves the hydraulic behaviour and excellent performance against the environmental force due to its flexibility properties. HDPE pipeline is normally installed by float-and-sink method. During the initial stage of installation, the string of HDPE pipeline will be floating for some period. A floating pipeline will be exposed to the current velocity and cause the pipeline to displace laterally. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a method to hold the pipe while it is being installed offshore. This study presents method to manage the HDPE pipeline displacement during the float-and-sink method installation utilising the support boats.