• 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.