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Monday, 7 November 2011

A giant flume capable of simulating cyclones to improve the stability of subsea oil and gas pipelines has won a major innovation award.

Developed by engineers at The University of Western Australia, the Large O-tube Facility won the Woodside Oil and Gas Encouragement Award in this year's WA Innovator of the Year Awards.

The awards were announced last week by Science and Innovation Minister John Day. The Encouragement Awards were judged by an independent panel of industry specialists.

Project leader Winthrop Professor Liang Cheng said the experimental facility simulated the effect of cyclones at seabed level, supporting new design methods for the stability of pipelines during storms.

The facility is a huge closed-loop flume with a base of natural seabed soil containing 60 tonnes of water which can be rapidly pumped back and forth simulating the underwater conditions during cyclones, he said.

The facility was designed and built by UWA and began operating last year from the University's Shenton Park site. The instrumentation and control technology were designed and fabricated at UWA while the flume structure was made in China under UWA supervision following a small-scale trial of the design at UWA in 2009.

The Large O-tube Facility is part of a long-term UWA research initiative, part-funded by Woodside and Chevron.

Professor Cheng said pipeline seabed stability was a more significant design challenge in Australian waters compared to other regions worldwide.

"This is due to the need for large diameter gas trunklines to cross the continental shelf, which is covered with mobile sediment and subject to cyclones," he said.

"The results will improve our assessments of pipeline stability and more efficient and safer design of WA's offshore infrastructure."

Media references

Winthrop Professor Liang Cheng (UWA School of Civil and Resource Engineering)  (+61 8)  6488 3076
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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