Apparatus for burying pipes or cables in the sea bed

摘要

A trenching machine (1) is provided for digging a trench on a seabed (5) after a pipeline (2) is positioned. The trenching machine (1) has a trenching body (3) and a connecting pipe (9) by which the trenching body (3) is attached to a vessel. Jet water nozzles (22, 24) and suction ducts (20) are provided on two legs of the trenching body (3) for liquidising the seabed (5) and removing the liquidised material to form the trench. The jet water power and the suction power are provided by the vessel via the connecting pipe (9). Skids (8) are provided at both sides of the trenching machine (1) in order to provide horizontal stability. A steering mechanism is provided in a coupling (10) between the trenching body (3) and the connecting pipe (9) in order to provide additional fine steering capacity. The legs (4) can be lowered independently along an axis perpendicular to the pipeline in order to allow safe deployment of the trenching machine (1) over the pipeline (2) at the start of the works. <IMAGE>