• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.11
• /
• pp.870-877
• /
• 2020

A suction bucket foundation, especially useful at depths of more than 20m, is a method of construction. The method first places an empty upturned bucket at the target site. Then, the bucket is installed by sucking water or air into it to create negative pressure. For stability, it is crucial to secure the verticality of the bucket. However, inclination by the bucket may occur due to sea-bottom conditions. In general, a repeated intrusion-pulling method is used for securing verticality. However, it takes a long time to complete the job. In this paper, we propose a real-time suction bucket verticality monitoring system. Specifically, the system consists of a sensor unit that collects raw verticality data, a controller that processes the data and wirelessly transmits the information, and a display unit that shows verticality information of a circular steel pipe. The system is implemented using an inclination sensor and an embedded controller. Experimental results show that the proposed system can efficiently measure roll/pitch information with a 0.028% margin of error. Furthermore, we show that the system properly operates in a suction bucket-based model experiment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2010.03a
• /
• pp.213-220
• /
• 2010

This study presents a numerical simulation model of vertical ground heat exchangers, considering unsaturated hydro static ground conditions induced by the ground water table fluctuation. Heat transfer in ground and grout is modeled by a 3-D FEM transient conductive heat transfer model, where heat transfer between circulating fluid and heat exchanging pipe is treated as 1-D quasi steady state forced convective elements. To take into account the unsaturated ground condition, soil thermal conductivity and heat capacity which are dependent on the matric suction are applied to ground elements. Parametric studies considering various ground water table conditions are conducted to investigate the influence of unsaturated hydro static ground condition on the mean heat exchange rate of ground heat exchanger. Simulation results considering water table fluctuation show 60~100% of mean heat exchange rate for a saturated soil condition and 125~208% of that for a dry soil condition. Thus consideration of unsaturated soil condition is substantially recommended for more accurate design and performance evaluation for ground heat exchangers.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.70-77
• /
• 2012

In this study, a numerical analysis of offshore installation using a floating crane with heave compensator is carried out in time domain. The motion analysis of crane vessels is based on floating body dynamics using convolution integral and the crane wire is treated as simple spring. The lifted structure is assumed as a rigid body with 3 degree-of-freedom translational motion. The heave compensator is numerically modelled by the generalized spring-damper system. Firstly, forced motion simulations of crane wire system are carried out to figure out the basic principle of heave compensator. The transfer function of crane wire system is obtained and effective wave period of heave compensator are found. Then, coupled analysis of crane vessel, crane wire, and lifted structure are performed in regular and irregular sea conditions. Two different crane vessels and two lifted structures (suction pile and manifold) are considered in this study. Through a series of numerical calculations, the effective zone of heave compensator is investigated with respect to wave period and crane wire length.