Drilling into the depths of Gulf of Mexico waters, Kenall evaluated the effects of proposed Corps of Engineers levees on energy pipelines buried beneath Atkinson Island’s seabed. With water depths of approximately eight feet, and mudline elevations ranging from -5 to -8 feet Mean Low Tide (MLT), the environment posed significant technical hurdles. Beneath these layers, the steel pipelines rested nine feet below the existing mudline, requiring precision to ensure the integrity of the pipelines during the proposed construction.
Kenall’s geotechnical investigation featured floating barge-mounted drilling rigs for extracting core samples and gathering critical soil data for laboratory testing. With this data, Kenall performed geotechnical engineering analyses, including advanced soil-pipe interaction studies powered by finite element numerical methods (FEM). These analyses assessed the stresses introduced by the levees and their potential impacts on the integrity of the buried pipelines.
Client
Linc Energy
Key Services
Geotechnical Engineering and Testing, Laboratory Testing & Analysis