Suction caissons have been widely used as anchors and foundations for floating and fixed offshore platforms. The pull-out performance of conventional suction caissons （with upright walls） has been investigated by a ...Suction caissons have been widely used as anchors and foundations for floating and fixed offshore platforms. The pull-out performance of conventional suction caissons （with upright walls） has been investigated by a number of researchers. However, no attention has been paid to tapered suction caissons. This paper deals with the performance of tapered suction caissons under vertical pull-out loads. A numerical approach is used for this purpose. The numerical model is first verified against test data available for common upright caissons. The verified model is then used to study the pullout performance of tapered suction caissons. It is noticed that the pull-out capacities exhibited by tapered suction caissons are in general considerably higher than those from their corresponding traditional upright caissons. To obtain an insight into this superior behaviour, effects from certain soil/caisson/drainage parameters on the pull-out capacity of tapered suction caissons are studied. Soil cohesion is noticed to have a linear improving effect on the capacity of both upright and ta- pered suction caissons. The soil internal friction angle is noticed to have an exponential increasing effect on the pull-out capacity. With a constant caisson diameter, an increase in the aspect ratio is seen to particularly influence the pull-out capacity. With a constant caisson length, an increase in the aspect ratio is discovered to result in non-linear decrease in the pull-out capacity. Under undrained conditions, tapered models generally show less sensitivity to above mentioned soil/caisson parameters as compared with those under drained conditions.展开更多
Suction caissons are widely used for anchoring floating platform and offshore wind turbines.Penetration of the suction caisson into the desired position under the combination of its self-weight and applied suction res...Suction caissons are widely used for anchoring floating platform and offshore wind turbines.Penetration of the suction caisson into the desired position under the combination of its self-weight and applied suction resulted from pumping out the encased water is integral to practical engineering.Model tests were carried out to investigate the suctionassisted installation of suction caissons in clay under various undrained shear strengths.It was found that there exists a critical penetration depth value.When the penetration depth is smaller than the critical value,the soil plug undrained shear strength is higher than intact clay(i.e.,clay prior to installation).However,when the penetration depth is greater than the critical penetration depth,the undrained shear strength of soil plug is lower than intact clay.The critical value decreases with the increasing consolidation time and undrained shear strength of clay.During suction-assisted installation,cracks occur around suction caissons.The installation way has little effect on the crack formation.The influence range(i.e.,the maximum distance between the crack and the suction caisson edge)was found to increase with the increasing friction coefficient of interface between the suction caisson wall and soil and decreases with the increasing soil undrained shear strength.In addition,the drained condition of the clay during installation is dominated by the caisson aspect ratio,the undrained shear strength and the friction coefficient between the caisson wall and clay.Equations to estimate the penetration resistance and the required suction to install the suction caisson are summarized.展开更多
文摘Suction caissons have been widely used as anchors and foundations for floating and fixed offshore platforms. The pull-out performance of conventional suction caissons （with upright walls） has been investigated by a number of researchers. However, no attention has been paid to tapered suction caissons. This paper deals with the performance of tapered suction caissons under vertical pull-out loads. A numerical approach is used for this purpose. The numerical model is first verified against test data available for common upright caissons. The verified model is then used to study the pullout performance of tapered suction caissons. It is noticed that the pull-out capacities exhibited by tapered suction caissons are in general considerably higher than those from their corresponding traditional upright caissons. To obtain an insight into this superior behaviour, effects from certain soil/caisson/drainage parameters on the pull-out capacity of tapered suction caissons are studied. Soil cohesion is noticed to have a linear improving effect on the capacity of both upright and ta- pered suction caissons. The soil internal friction angle is noticed to have an exponential increasing effect on the pull-out capacity. With a constant caisson diameter, an increase in the aspect ratio is seen to particularly influence the pull-out capacity. With a constant caisson length, an increase in the aspect ratio is discovered to result in non-linear decrease in the pull-out capacity. Under undrained conditions, tapered models generally show less sensitivity to above mentioned soil/caisson parameters as compared with those under drained conditions.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.52371301,51879044 and 51808325)the Shandong Natural Fund (Grant No.ZR2020QE258)。
文摘Suction caissons are widely used for anchoring floating platform and offshore wind turbines.Penetration of the suction caisson into the desired position under the combination of its self-weight and applied suction resulted from pumping out the encased water is integral to practical engineering.Model tests were carried out to investigate the suctionassisted installation of suction caissons in clay under various undrained shear strengths.It was found that there exists a critical penetration depth value.When the penetration depth is smaller than the critical value,the soil plug undrained shear strength is higher than intact clay(i.e.,clay prior to installation).However,when the penetration depth is greater than the critical penetration depth,the undrained shear strength of soil plug is lower than intact clay.The critical value decreases with the increasing consolidation time and undrained shear strength of clay.During suction-assisted installation,cracks occur around suction caissons.The installation way has little effect on the crack formation.The influence range(i.e.,the maximum distance between the crack and the suction caisson edge)was found to increase with the increasing friction coefficient of interface between the suction caisson wall and soil and decreases with the increasing soil undrained shear strength.In addition,the drained condition of the clay during installation is dominated by the caisson aspect ratio,the undrained shear strength and the friction coefficient between the caisson wall and clay.Equations to estimate the penetration resistance and the required suction to install the suction caisson are summarized.
