NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF SOIL PLUG INSIDE SUCTION FOUNDATIONS DURING SUCTION PENETRATION BY DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

The phenomenon of the soil plug usually rising inside the suction foundations during suction penetration was quantitatively described and predicted. The formation process of the soil plug was simulated and calculated by DEM （discrete element method） model. The seepage flow, the self-weight of soil, the friction on the chamber wall as well as the suction inside the chamber are considered as the main external forces in the process. The results are compared with a set of laboratory model tests performed by using three soil types （sand, silty clay and clay） in the Bohai Sea area. The heights of soil plug from numerical estimations are lower than those from model test results, mainly because the suction pressure and friction resistance are applied in an ideal way under the numerical simulation.

Self-Weight Penetration Characteristics of the Suction Foundation with Different Diameters in Sand

During the self-weight penetration process of the suction foundation on the dense sand seabed,due to the shallow penetration depth,the excess seepage seawater from the outside to the inside of the foundation may cause the negative pressure penetration process failure.Increasing the self-weight penetration depth has become an important problem for the safe construction of the suction foundation.The new suction anchor foundation has been proposed,and the self-weight penetration characteristics of the traditional suction foundation and the new suction anchor foundation are studied and compared through laboratory experiments and analysis.For the above two foundation types,by considering five foundation diameters and two bottom shapes,20 models are tested with the same penetration energy.The effects of different foundation diameters on the penetration depth,the soil plug characteristics,and the surrounding sand layer are studied.The results show that the penetration depth of the new suction foundation is smaller than that of the traditional suction foundation.With the same penetration energy,the penetration depth of the suction foundation becomes shallower as the diameter increases.The smaller the diameter of the suction foundation,the more likely it is to be fully plugged,and the smaller the height of the soil plug will be.In the stage of self-weight penetration,the impact cavity appears around the foundation,which may affect the stability of the suction foundation.

Numerical Simulation of Installation Process and Uplift Resistance for An Integrated Suction Foundation in Deep Ocean

A concept design, named integrated suction foundation, is proposed for a tension leg platform（TLP） in deep ocean. The most important improvement in comparing with the traditional one is that a pressure-resistant storage module is designed. It utilizes the high hydrostatic pressure in deep ocean to drive water into the module to generate negative pressure for bucket suction. This work aims to further approve the feasibility of the concept design in the aspect of penetration installation and the uplift force in-place. Seepage is generated during suction penetration, and can have both positive and negative effects on penetration process. To study the effect of seepage on the penetration process of the integrated suction foundation, finite element analysis（FEA） is carried out in this work. In particular, an improved methodology to calculate the penetration resistance is proposed for the integrated suction foundation with respect to the reduction factor of penetration resistance. The maximum allowable negative pressure during suction penetration is calculated with the critical hydraulic gradient method through FEA. The simulation results of the penetration process show that the integrated suction foundation can be installed safely. Moreover, the uplift resistance of the integrated suction foundation is calculated and the feasibility of the integrated suction foundation working on-site is verified. In all, the analysis in this work further approves the feasibility of the integrated suction foundation for TLPs in deep ocean applications.

Experimental and Theoretical Study on the Self-Weight Penetration Velocity of Suction Anchor Foundations in Sand

The application of the wellhead suction anchor in the second production test of natural gas hydrates(NGHs)in the South China Sea(SCS)was met with success.This design incorporates a central conductor guide pipe,which distinguishes it from traditional suction foundations.However,this addition resulted in a relatively high penetration resistance and a shallower penetration depth at the self-weight penetration stage.To mitigate this issue,the current study proposes an optimized design where the end of the suction foundation is sharpened.The installation characteristics of the traditional suction foundation and new suction foundation during self-weight penetration into sand are studied through laboratory tests and theoretical analysis.The flat and sharpened bottom shapes are considered in the traditional and new suction models.The effects of the initial penetration velocity on the initial penetration depth and soil plug and impact cavity characteristics are systematically studied.The results show that the self-weight penetration depth of the foundation with a sharpened bottom is 44.5%deeper than that of the foundation with a flat bottom.There are cavities around the foundation at the self-weight penetration stage,and the penetration depth is overestimated by 15%-30%.Finally,a model for predicting the penetration depth of the new suction foundation is proposed.

Characteristic Test Study on Bearing Capacity of Suction Caisson Foundation Under Vertical Load

Suction caisson foundations are often subjected to vertical uplift loads,but there are still no wide and spread engineering specifications on design and calculation method for uplift bearing capacity of suction caisson foundation.So it is important to establish an uplift failure criterion.In order to study the uplift bearing mechanism and failure mode of suction caisson foundation,a series of model tests were carried out considering the effects of aspect ratio,soil permeability and loading mode.Test results indicate that the residual negative pressure at the top of caisson is beneficial to enhance uplift bearing capacity.The smaller the permeability coefficient is,the higher the residual negative pressure will be.And the residual negative pressure is approximately equal to the water head that causes seepage in the caisson.When the load reaches the ultimate bearing capacity,both the top and bottom negative pressures are smaller than Su and both the top and bottom reverse bearing capacity factors are smaller than 1.0 in soft clay.Combined the uplift bearing characteristics of caisson in sandy soil and soft clay,the bearing capacity composition and the calculation method are proposed.It can provide a reference for the engineering design of suction caisson foundation under vertical load.

Upper Bound Solutions for Uplift Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Suction Caisson Foundation

Suction caisson foundation derives most of their uplift resistance from passive suction developed during the pullout movement. It was observed that the passive suction generated in soil at the bottom of the caisson and the failure mode of suction caisson foundation subjecting pullout loading behaves as a reverse compression failure mechanism.The upper bound theorems have been proved to be a powerful method to find the critical failure mechanism and critical load associated with foundations, buried caissons and other geotechnical structures. However, limited attempts have been reported to estimate the uplift bearing capacity of the suction caisson foundation using the upper bound solution. In this paper, both reverse failure mechanisms from Prandtl and Hill were adopted as the failure mechanisms for the computation of the uplift bearing capacity of the suction caisson. New equations were proposed based on both failure mechanisms to estimate the pullout capacity of the suction caisson. The proposed equations were verified by the test results and experimental data from published literature. And the two solutions agree reasonably well with the other test results. It can be proved that both failure mechanisms are reasonably and more consistent with the actual force condition.

Study on Unloading Creep Characteristics of the Soil and Application of the Stress-Dependent Creep Model in Suction Caisson Foundation

As the anchoring foundation of the tension leg platform(TLP),suction caisson foundation is subjected to the long-term vertical pullout loads.But there are few studies on the mechanism of the unloading creep of soft clay and long-term uplift bearing capacity of suction caisson foundations.To address this problem,unloading creep tests of soft clay were carried out to analyze the strain development with time under different confining pressures.The test results show that the creep curve rapidly develops in the early stage and tends to stabilize in the later stage.The unloading deviator stress is higher,the unloading creep deformation is greater and the soft clay has typical nonlinear creep characteristics.Therefore,by introducing the creep model and considering the influence of the deviator stress,the stress-dependent Merchant model is proposed to describe the unloading creep of soft clay.Then,the stress-dependent Merchant model is extended to a three-dimension constitutive model,and a finite element subroutine is developed to establish a finite element analysis method for analyzing the long-term uplift capacity of suction caisson foundations and validated with the long-term uplift bearing capacity results of caisson model.

砂土中长径比对三筒基础水平承载特性的影响

The tripod foundation(TF)is a prevalent foundation configuration in contemporary engineering practices.In comparison to a single pile,TF comprised interconnected individual piles,resulting in enhanced bearing capacity and stability.A physical model test was conducted within a sandy soil foundation,systematically varying the length-to-diameter ratio of the TF.The investigation aimed to comprehend the impact of altering the height of the central bucket on the historical horizontal bearing capacity of the foundation in saturated sand.Additionally,the study scrutinized the historical consequences of soil pressure and pore water pressure surrounding the bucket throughout the loading process.The historical findings revealed a significant enhancement in the horizontal bearing capacity of the TF under undrained conditions.When subjected to a historical horizontal loading angle of 0°for a single pile,the multi-bucket foundation exhibited superior historical bearing capacity compared to a single-pile foundation experiencing a historical loading angle of 180°under pulling conditions.With each historical increment in bucket height from 150 mm to 350 mm in 100 mm intervals,the historical horizontal bearing capacity of the TF exhibited an approximately 75%increase relative to the 150 mm bucket height,indicating a proportional relationship.Importantly,the historical internal pore water pressure within the bucket foundation remained unaffected by drainage conditions during loading.Conversely,undrained conditions led to a historical elevation in pore water pressure at the lower side of the pressure bucket.Consequently,in practical engineering applications,the optimization of the historical bearing efficacy of the TF necessitated the historical closure of the valve atop the foundation to sustain internal negative pressure within the bucket.This historical measure served to augment the historical horizontal bearing capacity.Simultaneously,historical external loads,such as wind,waves,and currents,were directed towards any individual bucket within the TF for optimal historical performance.

Numerical Analysis of a Gravity Substructure for 5 MW Offshore Wind Turbines Due to Soil Conditions

In order to increase the gross generation of wind turbines, the size of a tower and a rotor-nacelle becomes larger. In other words, the substructure for offshore wind turbines is strongly influenced by the effect of wave forces as the size of substructure increases. In addition, since a large offshore wind turbine has a heavy dead load, the reaction forces on the substructure become severe, thus very firm foundations should be required. Therefore, the dynamic soil-structure interaction has to be fully considered and the wave forces acting on substructure accurately calculated. In the present study, ANSYS AQWA is used to evaluate the wave forces. Moreover, the substructure method is applied to evaluate the effect of soil-structure interaction. Using the wave forces and the stiffness and damping matrices obtained from this study, the structural analysis of the gravity substructure is carried out through ANSYS mechanical. The structural behaviors of the strength and deformation are evaluated to investigate an ultimate structural safety and serviceability of gravity substructure for various soil conditions. Also, the modal analysis is carried out to investigate the resonance between the wind turbine and the gravity substructure.