Presentation On Offshore Geotechnical en PDF

Challenges of
Offshore Geotechnical Engineering
OCE 582 - Seabed Geotechnics presented by Ursula Hebinck

Professor Kate Moran
Overview
Content of Paper
recent developments in offshore site investigation

techniques and laboratory testing
design practice for deep piled foundations
design practice for shallow foundations
multi- footing structures, such as mobile drilling platforms
resting on temporary foundations
different types of anchoring systems
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Pile Foundations
Applications
fixed offshore platforms

− platforms fixed to seabed
by piles inserted through
sleeves attached to the
jacket
floating offshore platforms
− piles used as anchors to
moor the floating facility
fixed by tethers
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Pile Foundations
Construction Methods
Driven Piles
− steel piles driven open-ended into the seafloor
− most common construction problems
• incorrect choice of design penetration
− either with insufficient capacity at the end of driving or
− due to refusal
• collapse of pile at tip level preventing passage of drilling
auger
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Pile Foundations
Grouted Piles
− bored pile, which comprises steel tubular section grouted
into pre-drilled hole
− most common construction problems
• using mud to enhance the hole stability
• potential for hydraulic fracture of the liquid grout into the
formation
• appropriate monitoring systems to ensure grout returns at
mudline
• large volume of grout causes high temperature, which might
lead to shrinking of the pile along its length as it cools
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Pile Foundations
Grouted Piles
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Pile Foundations
Axial Capacity
Importance: understanding of mechanisms that

determine the eventual
− shaft friction and
− end-bearing capacity
of different types of piles
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Pile Foundations
Axial Capacity
pile design parameters may be deduced from

− for sands:
• terms of the cone resistance
− for fine-grained sediments:
• undrained shear strength
• in situ vertical effective stress together with an
overconsolidation ratio
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Pile Foundations
Lateral Response
quantified using a load transfer approach

− interaction between pile and soil modelled by non-linear
P-y curves
• P = lateral force per unit length down the pile
• y = lateral deflection
− critical design issue is the maximum bending moments
induced down the pile, rather than the magnitude of
deflection
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Pile Foundations
Lateral Response
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Shallow Foundations
Applications
historically:
− large concrete gravity bases,
supporting large fixed substructures
− steel mudmats used as temporary
support for conventional piled
jackets before the piled foundation
had been constructed
additional nowadays:
− concrete or steel bucket foundations used as anchors for
floating platforms or as permanent support for jacket
structures instead of piles or as foundations for a variety of
small sea bottom structures
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Shallow Foundations
Design Features
differences between shallow foundations onshore and

offshore:
− SF employed offshore are typically much larger than
those used onshore
− offshore SF are required to withstand much larger
horizontal loads and overturning moments than onshore
− in the design process more emphasis is placed on
capacity of offshore SF, with less emphasis on
displacements than in onshore foundation design
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Shallow Foundations
Design Features
differences between shallow foundations onshore and

offshore:
− attention to cyclic loading effects on capacity is critical in
design of offshore SF
− soft surface deposits offshore are incorporated into on
offshore foundation system by the provision of skirts,
where onshore soft surficial soils would more often be
removed prior to construction
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Shallow Foundations
Evolution of Offshore Shallow Foundation Systems
Concrete Gravity Bases

− first gravity based platform: Ekofisk tank
− led to development of: Condeep gravity base design
− the advantage of the Condeep style platform over the Ekofisk

tank design is much smaller wave forces acting on the
structure as the major volume of the Condeep is located deep
below the water surface
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Shallow Foundations
Concrete caissons for TLPs

− a progression from the development of suction-installed
deep skirted concrete gravity base foundations is the
use of individual or clusters of small concrete caissons
or bucket foundations for tension leg platforms
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Shallow Foundations
Concrete caissons for TLPs

− advantages over piles as anchors for deeper water
moorings:
• pumps used for installation of caissons do not have the
same problems as piling hammers at great working depth
• larger diameter of caisson foundations provides a larger
area for ballast and also mobilizes greater reverse end
bearing or passive suction during uplift
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Shallow Foundations
Evolution of Offshore Shallow

Foundation Systems
Steel Buckets for Jackets

− used as an alternative to pile
foundations for jackets
− unique aspect of this foundation
system is the reliance on
mobilizing tensile capacity (in
sands) through passive suction
under the baseplate when the
foundations are subject to extreme
environmental loads
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Shallow Foundations
Design Practice
despite clear differences between offshore and onshore SF

systems and loading conditions the roots of the design
methods presented in the recommended practices are the
same as adopted for onshore design
all based on classical bearing capacity equations for failure
of a vertically loaded strip foundation on a uniform Tresca
soil combined with various modification factors to account
for load orientation, foundation shape, embedment, and
soil strength profile
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Mobile Drilling Units
Applications
most offshore drilling in shallow to

moderate water depth is performed
from self-elevating mobile jack-up
units
units consist of a buoyant triangular
platform resting on three independent
truss-work legs
each leg has a rack and pinion
system used to jack the legs up and
down through the deck
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Self-Installation Capacity
Jack-ups
− are towed to site floating on the hull with legs elevated
out of the water
− on location, legs are lowered to sea-bed
− hull is being lifted of the water
− sea-water gets pumped up into ballast tanks in the hull to
expose the foundations to a larger pure vertical load
− ballast tanks are emptied before operations begin
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Spudcan Foundations
foundations of independent-leg jack-up platforms

approximate large inverted cones and are commonly known
as spudcans
roughly circular in plan
shallow conical underside
with a sharp protruding spigot
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Effect of Installation Method
with the foundations exposed to a vertical load prior to

operation it is argued that a combined loading ‘failure’
surface is established and is proportional to the vertical pre-
load
after the pre-load water has been dumped the load settles
inside such a surface
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Load path
under environmental wind and wave loading, load paths for

each leg and spudcan can be predicted and safety factors
are then evaluated
the additional load for a wind- / leeward spudcan failure is
between the wind- / leeward leg design point and the wind- /
leeward leg failure point
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Conclusion
Over the last decade:
offshore design practice has moved from ‘Working Stress

Design’
− based on a global factor of safety
to ‘Load and Resistance Factor Design’
− using partial factors for different load types and for the
material strength
− this is essential when assessing the performance of
foundation systems are subjected to both tensile and
compressive load
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THANK YOU
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Challenges of

Offshore Geotechnical Engineering

OCE 582 - Seabed Geotechnics presented by Ursula Hebinck

recent developments in offshore site investigation

fixed offshore platforms

Importance: understanding of mechanisms that

pile design parameters may be deduced from

quantified using a load transfer approach

differences between shallow foundations onshore and

differences between shallow foundations onshore and

Evolution of Offshore Shallow Foundation Systems

Concrete Gravity Bases

− the advantage of the Condeep style platform over the Ekofisk

Evolution of Offshore Shallow Foundation Systems

Concrete caissons for TLPs

Evolution of Offshore Shallow Foundation Systems

Concrete caissons for TLPs

Evolution of Offshore Shallow

Steel Buckets for Jackets

despite clear differences between offshore and onshore SF

most offshore drilling in shallow to

Mobile Drilling Units

foundations of independent-leg jack-up platforms

Mobile Drilling Units

Effect of Installation Method

with the foundations exposed to a vertical load prior to

under environmental wind and wave loading, load paths for

Over the last decade:

offshore design practice has moved from ‘Working Stress

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