Experimental tests to evaluate skirt penetration resistance in scour protection for offshore foundations
Experimental tests to evaluate skirt penetration resistance in scour protection for offshore foundations
Full scale experimental tests were performed to evaluate the penetration resistance of steel plates (skirts), which are present in different types of offshore foundations, like mud-mat foundations. This research is motivated by the design of the jacket foundation for the DolWin kappa offshore substation, within the framework of DolWin6 project Penetration resistance is well-studied in clays and sands, but there is limited information on penetration in coarse granular materials, which are typically used as scour protection. Direct extrapolation of penetration resistance in sands is not possible because of the grain-size effect. Several plate thicknesses and gravel sizes were used to study the influence of the grain-size effect on the penetration resistance. The results of the experimental tests showed a strong dependence of penetration resistance on penetration depth as expected, but also a significant dependence on skirt thickness and gravel grain size. A good agreement with experimental results has been found when analytically interpreting the penetration resistance using traditional bearing capacity formulas, but with an equivalent skirt thickness related to the real skirt thickness and to the grain size, to account for the grain-size effect.
Marina Miranda; Jorge Castro; Elena Varela; M. Jahanshahinowkandeh; J. Sarmiento; R. Guanche
18th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ECSMGE2024)
E - Environment, water and energy
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