Spudcan Penetration Analysis for Case Histories in Clay
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 7
Abstract
This paper reports advances in the prediction of spudcan resistance profiles during installation and preloading, based on the soil flow mechanisms observed in model tests and numerical analysis, and taking into account strain softening and rate dependency on the soil strength. Deep penetration of spudcan foundations was simulated for 14 case histories reported from different locations in the Gulf of Mexico, where the soils were single layer, predominantly normally to lightly overconsolidated clay. Axisymmetric and three-dimensional analyses were carried out using two large deformation finite-element (LDFE) approaches, modifying the simple elastic-perfectly plastic Tresca soil model to allow strain softening and strain-rate dependency of the shear strength. The field data were compared with the results of the finite-element analyses and with predictions using various design approaches. Excellent agreement was found, particularly when a mechanism-based design approach was used that differentiated between conditions before and after backflow of soil above the penetrating spudcan.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented herein was undertaken in collaboration with Fugro-McClelland Marine Geosciences, Inc., Houston, Texas. The first author is an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow (APDI) and is supported by the ARC Linkage Project LP110100174. This work forms part of the activities of the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems (COFS), currently supported as a node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering and as a Centre of Excellence by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. This support is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 7 • July 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 28, 2013
Accepted: Mar 15, 2014
Published online: Apr 14, 2014
Published in print: Jul 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Sep 14, 2014
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