System for entrenching submerged elongated structures
First Claim
1. Apparatus for use in excavating a trench in a sea bottom and for removing spoil formed during the excavation, said apparatus comprising:
- a base structure capable of being towed along a sea bottom, said base structure including;
two pontoons, each having a sufficiently high mass concentrated at its front end so that the center of gravity of said base structure is approximately at the longitudinal center of said base structure when said base structure is out of water;
a frame for disposition over the area in which the trench is to be formed;
tow line connecting means arranged at the forward section of said base structure;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame and located adjacent to the rear end of said base structure;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means;
said spoil removal means including at least one eductor for sucking up spoil excavated by said fluid jet excavating means and a discharge tube coupled to an output end of said eductor, said discharge tube extending past the side of said base structure by approximately a distance L where ##EQU3## where w equals the average width of the trench to be excavated and d equals the depth of the trench to be excavated; and
said base structure having its center of buoyancy and center of gravity located so that said base structure rides along substantially undisturbed soil on the sea bottom during the excavating operation; and
a towing vessel capable of moving along the water surface and having towing means coupled to said tow line connecting means so that said towing vessel can tow said base structure along the sea bottom.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for excavating a trench in the sea bottom and removing the excavated spoil from the trench in order to enable an elongated structure, such as a pipeline, to settle into the trench is disclosed along with a corresponding method of operating such system. The system includes a sea sled which can be towed along the bottom of the sea and a towing vessel for towing the sled along the sea bottom. The sea sled includes a frame to be disposed over the area in which the trench is to be formed, a fluid jet excavator mounted on the frame and located adjacent to the rear end of the sea sled and a spoil removal mechanism mounted on the frame and located aft of the fluid jet excavator. Both the center of buoyancy and the center of gravity of the sled are located in front of the fluid jet excavator. The towing vessel is coupled to the sled through a tow line connecting mechanism and is coupled in such manner that the effects of any heaving and/or pitching movements of the vessel upon the fluid jet excavator sled are minimized. The spoil removal machanism is appropriately constructed so that the spoil that is removed from the trench is deposited at a sufficient distance from the sides of the sled so as to minimize the possibility of the spoil immediately slipping back into the trench.
15 Citations
76 Claims
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1. Apparatus for use in excavating a trench in a sea bottom and for removing spoil formed during the excavation, said apparatus comprising:
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a base structure capable of being towed along a sea bottom, said base structure including;
two pontoons, each having a sufficiently high mass concentrated at its front end so that the center of gravity of said base structure is approximately at the longitudinal center of said base structure when said base structure is out of water;
a frame for disposition over the area in which the trench is to be formed;
tow line connecting means arranged at the forward section of said base structure;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame and located adjacent to the rear end of said base structure;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means;
said spoil removal means including at least one eductor for sucking up spoil excavated by said fluid jet excavating means and a discharge tube coupled to an output end of said eductor, said discharge tube extending past the side of said base structure by approximately a distance L where ##EQU3## where w equals the average width of the trench to be excavated and d equals the depth of the trench to be excavated; and
said base structure having its center of buoyancy and center of gravity located so that said base structure rides along substantially undisturbed soil on the sea bottom during the excavating operation; anda towing vessel capable of moving along the water surface and having towing means coupled to said tow line connecting means so that said towing vessel can tow said base structure along the sea bottom. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17)
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2. Apparatus for use in excavating a trench in a sea bottom and for removing spoil formed during the excavation, said apparatus comprising:
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a base structure capable of being towed along a sea bottom, said base structure including;
a frame for disposition over the area in which the trench is to be formed;
tow line connecting means arranged at the forward section of said base structure;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame and located adjacent to the rear end of said base structure;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means; and
said base structure having its center of buoyancy and center of gravity located so that said base structure rides along substantially undisturbed soil on the sea bottom during the excavating operation;a towing vessel capable of moving along the water surface and having towing means coupled to said tow line connecting means so that said towing vessel can tow said base structure along the sea bottom; said frame includes an assembly pivotable about an axis lying adjacent to a plane along the front end of said base structure and said pivotable assembly extending rearwardly along said base structure; and said fluid jet excavating means and said spoil removal means are attached to said pivotable assembly so taht said fluid jet excavating means and said spoil removal means are vertically adjustable with respect to said base structure. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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18. An apparatus for entrenching a submerged elongated structure such as a pipeline in the soil along the bottom of the sea, said apparatus comprising:
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a sled structure capable of being towed along the sea bottom so as to straddle the elongated structure to be entrenched for excavating a trench under such elongated structure so that such elongated structure can eventually settle into the trench, said sled structure including;
a frame;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame and located adjacent to the rear end of said sled structure;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means, said spoil removal means including a discharge tube for discharging soil excavated from the trench at a location spaced to the side of said frame of said sled structure, said discharge tube extending a minimum distance dependent upon the volume of soil to be removed from the trench; and
said sled structure having its center of bouyancy and center of gravity located so that said sled structure rides along substantially undisturbed soil on the sea bottom during the excavating operation; anda toward vessel capable of moving along the water surface and having towing means coupled to said sled structure so that said towing vessel can tow said sled structure along the sea bottom. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. An apparatus for entrenching a submerged, elongated structure such as a pipeline in the soil along the bottom of the sea, said apparatus comprising:
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a sled structure capable of being towed along the sea bottom so as to straddle the elongated structure to be entrenched for excavating a trench along such elongated structure so that such elongated structure can eventally settle into the trench, said sled structure including;
a frame;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means, said spoil removal means including two eductors for sucking up spoil excavated by said fluid jet excavating means and two discharge tubes each being coupled to a respective one of said eductors, said discharge tubes extending past the sides of said sled structure by approximately a distance L where ##EQU5## where w equals the average width of a trench to be excavated and d equa the depth of a trench to be excavated; and
,a towing vessel capable of moving along the water surface and having towing means coupled to said sled structure so that said towing vessel can tow said sled structure along the bottom. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A sea sled for entrenching a submerged elongated structure such as a pipeline in the soil along the bottom of the sea, said sea sled being capable of being towed along the sea bottom so as to straddle the elongated structure to be entrenched for excavating a trench under such elongated structure so that such elongated structure can eventually settle into the trench, said sled structure comprising:
- a frame;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame and located adjacent to the rear end of said sled structure;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means, said spoil removal means causing soil excavated from the trench to be displaced to a location spaced to the side of said frame by a minimum distance dependent upon the volume of soil to be removed from the trench;
said spoil removal means including at least one eductor for sucking up spoil excavated by said fluid jet excavating means and a discharge tube coupled to an output end of said eductor, said discharge tube extending past the side of said base structure by approximately a distance L where ##EQU6## where w equals the average width of the trench to be excavated and d equals the depth of the trench to be excavated; and
said sled structure having its center of buoyancy and center of gravity located in front of said fluid jet excavating means so that said sled structure rides on substantially undisturbed soil on the sea bottom during the excavating operation. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
- a frame;
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53. Sea sled for entrenching a submerged, elongated structure such as a pipeline in the soil along the bottom of the sea, said sled being capable of being towed along the sea bottom so as to straddle the elongated structure to be entrenched for excavating a trench along such elongated structure so that such elongated structure can eventually settle into the trench, said sled comprising:
- a pontoon structure;
a frame mounted on said pontoon structure;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame; and
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means, said spoil removal means including two eductors for sucking up spoil excavated by said fluid jet excavating means and two discharge tubes each being coupled to a respective one of said eductors, said discharge tubes extending past the sides of said pontoon structure by approximately a distance L where ##EQU8## where w equals the average width of the trench to be excavated and d the depth of a trench to be excavated. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
- a pontoon structure;
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64. A sea sled for entrenching a submerged elongated structure such as a pipeline in the soil along the bottom of the sea, said sea sled being capable of being towed along the sea bottom so as to straddle the elongated structure to be entrenched for excavating a trench under such elongated structure so that such elongated structure can eventually settle into the trench, said sled comprising:
a frame;
fluid jet excavating means mounted on said frame;
spoil removal means mounted on said frame and located aft of said fluid jet excavating means, said spoil removal means including a discharge tube for discharging soil excavated from the trench at a location spaced to the side of said frame, said discharge tube extending a minimum distance dependent upon the volume of soil to be removed from the trench; and
said sled structure having its center of buoyancy and center of gravity located in front of said fluid jet excavating means so that said sled structure will ride on substantially undisturbed soil on the sea bottom during an excavating operation and having its center of gravity located approximately at its longitudinal center so that said sled structure will be balanced when said sled structure is suspended out of the water.- View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A method for entrenching a pipeline in the soil along the bottom of the sea utilizing a trenching system including a sea sled having a pontoon structure, a frame mounted on the pontoon structure, a fluid jet excavating mechanism mounted on the frame at a location adjacent to the rear end of the sled and a spoil removal mechanism mounted on the frame at a location aft of the fluid jet excavating mechanism and a towing vessel capable of moving along the water surface having a towline connection mechanism for coupling the vessel to the sled and towing the sled along the sea bottom, the entrenching method comprising the steps of:
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lowering the sled into the water to the sea bottom; arranging the sled on the sea bottom in a position so as to straddle the pipeline to be entrenched; excavating a trench under the pipeline so that the pipeline can eventually settle into the trench; removing the excavated spoil from the trench and transporting such spoil through the spoil removal means by a distance L where ##EQU10## where w equals the average width of the trench and d equals the depth of the trench, before the spoil leaves the spoil removal mechanism; and towing the sled along the sea bottom. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76)
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Specification