Objective
Design, construction and sea test of an underwater vehicle for the trenching of flexible pipes and electrical cables already laid on the sea bottom, in order to guarantee their protection against possible damage.
The vehicle has been successfully tested at sea by trenching a bundle of flexible pipes and an electrical cable. In order to satisfy the market requirements, the experience obtained during the project development has been utilised for the design of two vehicles, the first of wich was finalised for the burying of flowlines (300 mm O.D. max), the second for the burying of electrical cables only.
The underwater unmanned tracked vehicle is remote-controlled from the surface, moves on the sea bottom self-guiding along the pipe or cable, digs a trench with vertical walls by means of a chain device in the soil with a compressive strength of up to 150 kg/cm2.
The main capacities of the vehicle are:
- water depth up to 160m
- trench depth 1.5m
- cable pipe diameter 5.30 cm
- max trenching speed 400 m/h.
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
30124 VENEZIA
Italy