MARINE PIPELINE INSTALLATION SYSTEM

摘要

An apparatus and system for simultaneously laying and burying pipelines as they are constructed in an offshore marine environment which apparatus is comprised of a rigid structural frame having skids to contact the ocean floor as the device is propelled thereacross. A plow on the frame having a knife edge shear blade at its frontal portion cuts and parts the ocean floor forming a ditch. The plow is vertically adjustable (to control the depth of cut) and pivotally adjustable (to control the angular attitude of the plow with respect to the supporting frame). A combined water and air sparge trails in the ditch created by the plow and agitates the sediment falling back into the ditch to prevent the permanent settlement of solid matter in the ditch prior to placement of the pipeline therein. The ditch is thus retained in an open configuration facilitating easy installation of a pipeline therein. Structural vertical supports have adjustable guide members thereon to supportably receive the pipeline as constructed from a lay barge or like construction platform and guide the pipeline into the trench created by the device, as the device is pulled along by the lay barge, thus combining the pipe laying and burying operation into one relatively high speed process.