• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2014

This paper presents the pullout behavior of suction pile using finite difference method; and the commercial software, FLAC3D, was employed for the numerical analyses. The ultimate pullout capacity of suction pile was predicted using conventional equations, and the results were compared with the results from numerical analyses with varying pile diameter, pile length, and the undrained shear strength of clays. Based on the results from 24 analyses, it was found that the failure pattern depends not only on the drainage condition of suction pile, but also on the pile dimensions and the material properties of surrounding soils. The developed side shear (DSS) along the internal surface of the suction pile was collected from numerical analyses, which was used to classify the failure type between sliding failure and tensile failure. Regardless of the external DSS, the high internal DSS tends to result in sliding failure in the numerical analyses, which conforms well to the estimation from conventional equations.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.119-127
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• 2013

Recently, several researches on the development of new economical foundation types have been performed to support floating structures as many offshore structures have been constructed. This study focused on the evaluation of bearing capacity of group suction piles, which are connected by a concrete pile cap. The offshore floating structures are mainly subjected to horizontal loading, so the horizontal bearing capacities of the group suction piles were analyzed by performing 3-dimensional finite element analyses. The group suction piles are expected to behave as a rigid pile due to its shallow embedded depth. Therefore, the detailed soil modeling was necessary to simulate the bearing behavior of soils under low confining pressure. The modulus and the strength of soils were modelled to increase with effective confining pressure in soils. For the parametric study, the center-to-center spacing between piles was varied and two soil types of clay and sands were applied. The analyses results showed that the yielding load of the group pile increased with the increase of the pile spacing and the yielding load of the group piles with 5D spacing was about 3 times larger than that of the single pile with free rotation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.103-116
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• 2014

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation on the load carrying capacity and consolidation behavior of suction piles. Three dimensional numerical models which reflect realistic ground conditions and installation procedures including the ground-suction pile interface were adopted to conduct a parametric study on variables such as the length-diameter ratio and the loading configurations, i.e, vertical, horizontal, and combined loads. The results indicated that the load carrying capacity of a suction pile can only be realistically obtained when the interface behavior between the suction pile and the ground is correctly modeled. Also carried out was the stress-pore pressure coupled analysis to investigate the consolidation behavior of the suction pile after the application of a vertical loading. Based on the results, failure envelops and associated equations were developed, which can be used to estimate load carrying capacity of suction piles installed in similar conditions considered in this study. The results of consolidation analysis based on the stress-pore pressure coupled analysis indicate that no significant excess pore pressure and associated consolidation settlement occur for the loading configuration considered in part due to the load transfer mechanism of the suction pile.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.5-12
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• 2016

Numerical analyses were carried out to simulate tilting control on the suction pile for offshore wind power embedded into cohesive soil and cohesionless soil using finite element software, ABAQUS. A 3-dimensional suction pile was modelled as a wished-in-place pile with $1^{\circ}$ tilted from vertical line. The inner room of suction pile was divided into 3 separate rooms for tilting control, and point load was applied to the center of gravity of a separate room to restore the original position of the suction pile. From numerical analyses, required suction pressure was obtained for desired tilting degree, and the maximum/minimum principle stresses of concrete skirt and the Mises stresses of inner steel wall were collected at original position. It was found that the required suction pressure was about 410 kPa for cohesive soil, and about 1,800 kPa for cohesionless soil.; likewise, obtained stresses were greater for cohesionless soil than cohesive soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.27-37
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• 2011

A series of centrifuge model tests to investigate the suction pile pullout loading capacity in sand have been performed. The main parameters that affect the pullout loading capacity of a suction pile include the mooring line inclination angle and the padeye position of the suction pile. With respect to the padeye position, the maximum pullout loading capacity is obtained when the padeye position is near 75% of the pile length from the top. The direction of the pile rotation changes when the padeye position reaches somewhere near 50~75% for all mooring line inclination angles. The translation displacement of suction pile to develop the time of maximum pullout loading capacity decreased as the mooring line inclination angle increased. In addition, the vertical displacements of the center of a suction piles for all cases appeared to develop toward the ground surface.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

Recently, several researches on the development of new economical anchor systems have been performed to support floating structures. This study focused on the group suction piles, which connect mid-sized suction piles instead of a single suction pile with large-diameter. The group suction pile shows the complex bearing behavior with translation and rotation, so it is difficult to apply conventional design methods. Therefore, the numerical modeling technique was developed to evaluate the horizontal bearing capacity of the group suction piles in clay. The technique models suction piles as beam elements and soil reaction as non-linear springs. To analyze the applicability of the modeling, the horizontal load-movement curves of the proposed modeling were compared with those of three-dimensional finite element analyses. The comparison showed that the modeling underestimates the capacity and overestimate the displacement corresponding to the maximum capacity. Therefore, the correction factors for the horizontal soil resistance was proposed to match the bearing capacity from the three-dimensional finite element analyses.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.33-44
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• 2014

The preliminary design of suction pile as the supporting system for concrete floating structures was performed for the pilot project of the southwest coast area in Korea. Prior to starting design work, site conditions of the area including ground and hydraulic conditions, and a 100-year return period external force were throughly evaluated. The suction pile for mooring of the offshore floating structures has to satisfy the lateral resistance against external force as well as the penetration ability according to the soil conditions such as soil types, shear strengths, effective stresses, and seepage forces. In the design, the required penetration depths, which were stable for lateral resistance, were evaluated with the diameters of cylindrical suction pile as the final installing ones. And the design suction pressures at each penetrating depths, at which sand boiling did not occur, were assessed through the comparison of penetration and penetrationresistance forces. As a result, it was impossible for suction piles with the diameter range of 3.0~5.0 m to penetrate into required penetration depths. On the other hand, suction piles with the diameter range of 6.0 m and 7.0 m satisfied both the horizontal stability and the penetration ability by design suction pressures at the required penetration depths of 8.5 m and 8.0 m, respectively.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.45-53
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers Conference
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• 2008.09a
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• pp.32-35
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• 2008

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.6 s.83
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• pp.20-25
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• 2004