• International Journal of Technology (IJTech)
  • Vol 6, No 2 (2015)

Analysis of Suction Piles for Mooring Floating Structure Foundations in Clay Soil at Deepwater Levels

Analysis of Suction Piles for Mooring Floating Structure Foundations in Clay Soil at Deepwater Levels

Title: Analysis of Suction Piles for Mooring Floating Structure Foundations in Clay Soil at Deepwater Levels
Irfan Budiman, Iwan Soedigdo, Widjojo A. Prakoso

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Published at : 30 Apr 2015
Volume : IJtech Vol 6, No 2 (2015)
DOI : https://doi.org/10.14716/ijtech.v6i2.374

Cite this article as:

Budiman, I., Soedigdo, I., Prakoso, W.A., 2015. Analysis of Suction Piles for Mooring Floating Structure Foundations in Clay Soil at Deepwater Levels. International Journal of Technology. Volume 6(2), pp. 254-263



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Irfan Budiman PT. Rekadaya, Jakarta, Indonesia
Iwan Soedigdo Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok 16424, Indonesia
Widjojo A. Prakoso Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok 16424, Indonesia
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Abstract
Analysis of Suction Piles for Mooring Floating Structure Foundations in Clay Soil at Deepwater Levels

Oil and gas exploration is increasingly moving to deepwater locations to meet the increasing energy demands. In this environment, floating structures with suction pile foundations are commonly used because their the cost-effectiveness. Some studies have been conducted to examine the behavior of suction piles in clays, but the clay conditions considered are typically normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated. In this paper, the behavior of suction piles in underconsolidated clays and underconsolidated-normally consolidated clays adopted from actual deepwater soil conditions. The evaluation was performed using geotechnical 3D finite element software Plaxis. Suction piles with two different aspect ratios (L/D = 2 and 6) were considered, and the focus was on the effect of load angles (0? to 90?) and the effects of padeye position (0.5 L to 0.9 L). For short piles, the load angles had a relatively insignificant effect on the overall ultimate resistance, while for long piles, the angles affected the overall resistance considerably with a decrease in resistance up to about 50 percent. This different behavior could be explained from the observed pile deformation patterns. The padeye positions affected the pile resistances significantly as well with a decrease in resistance up to about 30 percent. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the overall behavior of suction piles in a combined clay conditions is practically similar to that of piles in normally consolidated and overconsolidated clays.

References

Andresen, L., Edgers, L., Jostad, H.P., 2008. Capacity analysis of suction anchors in clay by Plaxis 3D Foundation. Plaxis Bulletin, Issue 24, October, pp.5-9.

Dutt & Associates Inc., 2007. Interpretive Report on Soil Conditions Gehem and Ranggas Prospects Offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia. (unpublished report)

Plaxis B.V., 2008. Plaxis 3D Foundation, version 2.1. Delft, the Netherland.

Randolph, M.F, House, A.R., 2002. Analysis of Suction Caisson Capacity in Clay. Proceedings of the 2002 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston – Texas USA, 6-9 May 2002.

Supachawarote, C., 2006. Inclined Load Capacity of Suction Caisson in Clay, PhD Thesis, School of Civil and Resource Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 164p.