• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.517-520
• /
• 2005

The embedded suction anchor(ESA) is and anchor that is driven by a suction pile. The cross-sectional shape of the ESA anchor is circle. Its diameter is the same as that of the suction pile that is used to drive it into the seafloor. For the installation, the anchor is attached to the tip of the suction pile and then driven as a unit with the pile by and applied suction pressure. Once the ESA anchor reaches the desired depth, the pile is retrieved by applying a positive pressure. Finally, only the ESA anchor remains in the soil layer. This paper presents the results of centrifuge model tests to investigate ESA pullout capacity. The main parameters that have effects on the pullout capacity of ESA may include g-level, embedded depth, direction of loading, and loading point. The results of tests show that the pullout loading capacities increase as the loading point shift toward the tip of the anchors for a given loading direction. They also indicate that the loading point associated with the maximum pullout loading capacity is located at approximately 67 percent of the anchor length from the top for the horizontal load.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.79-95
• /
• 2013

Suction anchors are widely adopted in mooring systems. However there are still challenges in predicting the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of the anchor. Previously published methods for predicting the inclined pullout capacity of suction anchors are mainly based on experimental data or the FEM analysis. In the present work, an analytical method that is capable of predicting the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of the suction anchor in clay under inclined loading is developed. This method is based on a rational mechanical model for suction anchors and the knowledge of the mechanism that the anchor fails in seabed soils. In order to examine the analytical model, the failure angle and pullout capacity of suction anchors from FEM simulation, numerical solution and laboratory tests in uniform and linear cohesive soils are employed to compare with the theoretical predictions and the agreement is satisfactory. An analytical method that can evaluate the optimal position of the attachment point is also proposed in the present study. The present work proves that the failure mode and pullout capacity of suction anchors can be reasonably determined by the developed analytical method.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.279-299
• /
• 2015

Suction anchors are widely adopted and play an important role in mooring systems. However, how to reliably predict the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of the anchor in sand, especially by an easy-to-use theoretical method, is still a great challenge. Existing methods for predicting the inclined pullout capacity of suction anchors in sand are mainly based on experiments or finite element analysis. In the present work, based on a rational mechanical model for suction anchors and the failure mechanism of the anchor in the seabed, an analytical model is developed which can predict the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of suction anchors in sand under inclined loading. Detailed parametric analysis is performed to explore the effects of different parameters on the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of the anchor. To examine the present model, the results from experiments and finite element analysis are employed to compare with the theoretical predictions, and a general agreement is obtained. An analytical method that can evaluate the optimal position of the attachment point is also proposed in the present study. The present work demonstrates that the failure mode and pullout capacity of suction anchors in sand can be easily and reasonably predicted by the theoretical model, which might be a useful supplement to the experimental and numerical methods in analyzing the behavior of suction anchors.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.27 no.11
• /
• pp.27-37
• /
• 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 Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.2428-2435
• /
• 2014

Numerical analysis with ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian) Adaptive Meshing technique was performed to evaluate the pullout capacity of the embedded suction anchors (ESA) in uniform clay. The numerical method was verified by the previous study, analytical results based on limit-equilibrium theory and centrifuge tests. The pullout capacity of the ESA under horizontal, vertical, and inclined loading were evaluated, and the effect of initial rotation of the ESA on pullout capacity was also investigated. The analysis results showed that the maximum horizontal capacity was obtained at the mid-point, and the each vertical capacity gave the similar value regardless of the loading points. Furthermore, the inclined capacity was decreased as the load inclination angle increased at the mid-point of the anchor, and almost the same pullout capacity was obtained when the initial rotation angles were below 30 degrees.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2018

A series of pullout tests were carried out on waste tire treadmats of various weave arrangements, with confining stresses ranging from 9 to 59 kPa approximately, in order to investigate the pullout behavior and to apply the results to the design of treadmat reinforced soil structures. A treadmat reinforcement can be considered as belonging to the extensible type thus progressive failure would develop in every tread. The pullout capacity of a treadmat was found to be generally equal to the sum of capacities of the longitudinal treads, with minor enhancement realized due to the presence of transverse treads. Pullout failures occurred in treadmats under light surcharge and with treadmats with higher material presence per unit area, while breakage failures occurred in treadmats under heavier surcharge and with treadmats with higher ratio of opening. The pullout capacity of a treadmat increased with increasing surcharge height and treadmat stiffness. A pullout test on a commercially available geogrid was also carried out for comparison and the pullout capacity of a treadmat was found higher than that of the comparable geogrid under identical loading conditions, indicating the merit of using the treadmat as an alternative to the chosen geogrid.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.801-810
• /
• 2015

The ultimate pullout capacity under inclined dynamic loading is an important measure of the destruction degree of vertical screw piles (anchors) under dynamic actions. Based on the static and dynamic tests on two kinds of model screw piles, the ultimate bearing capacity was researched considering different distance-width ratio of blade (D/W) and preloading ratio. The results compared well with other experimental data available in the literature. This research reveals that D/W might determine the failure model of the piles (anchors), for example D/W = 3.14 or 5; a critical dynamic-static loading ratio (DSLR) existed in the experiments. The critical DSLR was reached under the conditions of 40%~60% preloading (D/W = 3.14) or 20%~40% preloading (D/W = 5), respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.30 no.11
• /
• pp.61-69
• /
• 2014

In this study, the performance of group suction anchors installed in sand and subjected to pullout loading was investigated by numerical analysis. The group suction anchors consist of two or three units rigidly connected to each other in parallel array and the pullout resistances were compared with that of a single anchor. Parametric study was performed using numerical models to study the effect of the physical conditions of the group anchor. The parameters include the skirt length to diameter ratio of a unit suction anchor, the pad-eye location, inclination of loading and the spacing between unit suction anchors. The analysis shows that the ratios of the pullout capacity of double suction anchor and triple suction anchor to that of single anchor are 1.7 and 2.4, respectively. The ratio increases with the increase in the spacing between the unit anchors. The other parameters such as the skirt length to the diameter ratio, the location of the pad-eye and the loading inclination have negligible effect on the ratio of pullout resistances of the group anchor to the single anchor.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.167-173
• /
• 2014

The embedded suction anchor, ESA, is one type of mooring anchor systems which utilizes the suction pile or caisson to penetrate the anchor into the sea bed and develops its capacity under pullout load. In this study, the numerical analysis using ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian) Adaptive Meshing technique was performed to simulate the pullout behavior of the ESA, and the results were compared to those of the previous research, centrifuge model tests and the analytical method based on limit equilibrium theory. The pullout behaviors of the ESA under horizontal, vertical, and inclined loading were evaluated. The analysis results showed that the maximum horizontal pullout load was developed when the location of loading point was at the mid-point, and the each vertical pullout load gave the similar value regardless of the locations of the loading points. The pullout load decreased as the load inclination angle increased at the mid-point of the anchor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2000.11a
• /
• pp.277-284
• /
• 2000

Using the large diameter (D ＝ 2,500mm, L ＝ 40m) batter steel pipe piles, designed as compression piles but used as reaction piles during the static compression load test of socketed test piles (D ＝ 1,000mm, L ＝ 40m), static pile load tests for large diameter instrumented rock-socketed piles were performed. The reaction steel pipe piles were driven 20m into the marine deposit and weathered rock layer and then l0m socketed with reinforced concrete through the weathered rock layer and into hard rock layer. Steel pipe and concrete in the steel pile part, and concrete and rebars in the socketed parts were instrumented to measure strains in each part. The pullout amounts of reaction pile heads were also measured with LVDT. During the static pile load test, total compressional load of about 20MN was loaded on the head of test piles, but load above 20MN was not loaded due to lack of loading capacity of loading system. Over the course of the study, maximum pullout amount up to 7mm was measured in the heads of reaction piles when loaded op to 10MN and 1mm of pullout amount was measured. More than 85% of pullout load was transfered in the residual weathered rock layer and about 10% in the soft rock layer, which was somewhat different transfer mechanism in the static compressional load tests.