Installation and Monotonic Pullout of a Suction Caisson Anchor in Calcareous Silt
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper reports results from a series of model tests undertaken to provide insight into the behavior of a stiffened caisson anchor during installation and monotonic pullout in lightly overconsolidated calcareous silt. The tests were carried out in a beam centrifuge, varying the installation process (jacked in or jacked in followed by suction-assisted installation), and the consolidation period before anchor pullout. The mudline load inclination was also varied to encompass various mooring configurations. The centrifuge data were used to calibrate analytical installation and vertical pullout capacity models, based on conventional bearing and frictional resistance factors but with strain rate-dependent and strain-softened undrained shear strength for the soil. Piezocone-based direct design approaches were also proposed, deriving end-bearing and frictional resistance from cone tip resistance and sleeve friction, respectively. Holding capacity of suction caisson under inclined loading was presented as failure envelopes expressed in terms of dimensionless vertical and horizontal components of caisson net resistance, which agreed well with a plastic limit analysis-based envelope developed for suction caissons in clay. The regain of anchor capacity was found to be in good agreement with predictions based on the cavity expansion framework.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented in this paper was undertaken with support from the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics Research Development Grant (RDG10300078). The second author is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow and is supported by the ARC Project DE140100903. The 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 as is the assistance of the beam centrifuge technicians, Mr. Manuel Palacios and Mr. Kelvin Leong.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 15, 2016
Accepted: Jun 27, 2016
Published online: Aug 22, 2016
Discussion open until: Jan 22, 2017
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
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