Sidewall Shell Contribution to the Lateral Capacity of Offshore Suction Caissons in Clay
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 11
Abstract
The response of suction caisson (bucket) foundations subjected to horizontal head displacement, or head rotation, is parametrically studied by means of three-dimensional finite-element analyses. The undrained clay stratum is either homogeneous or linearly inhomogeneous (Gibson soil). The effect of the nature of the interface between foundation and surrounding soil is explored with two different scenarios: an ideal case of a fully bonded contact (FBC), and a possibly more realistic tensionless and sliding interface of limited shear resistance (TSI). The latter scenario results in a significant reduction of failure loads. Closed-form expressions are developed for the maximum horizontal and moment capacity for a range of bucket aspect ratios in both soil types, and with both interface conditions. They are validated through comparisons with available results from the literature. The contribution of the suction caisson’s cylindrical sidewall shell to the overall response of the system is investigated. It is shown that for an embedment depth exceeding the caisson’s radius the shell provides practically the same lateral bearing capacity as the whole suction caisson, in contrast with the vertical (axial) loading of a caisson with sliding interface in which the role of the shell is much less significant.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research has been supported by the project “INSPIRE—Innovative Ground Interface Concepts for Structure Protection,” funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement 813424, and by the project “AGNES—Agile Geotechnics for Next-generation Wind-turbines: Enhancing Life-cycle Performance and Endurance to Harsh Loading,” funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation under the Grant Agreement 974.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 11 • November 2022
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 5, 2021
Accepted: Jun 1, 2022
Published online: Aug 26, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jan 26, 2023
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