ORCID
- D. Greaves: 0000-0003-3906-9630
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Successive episodes of cyclic loading cause the strength of soft soils to reduce, through pore pressure build-up, and then recover, through consolidation, as shown by model testing, field studies and theoretical considerations. These ‘whole-life’ changes in soil strength affect the capacity of anchoring systems for offshore infrastructure such as floating turbines or platforms. This paper introduces a new macro-model for assessing the through-life changes in seabed strength and anchor capacity as a result of variable cyclic loading and concurrent consolidation. The model combines SN curves for damage accumulation with a critical state soil mechanics framework for changes in soil strength and anchor capacity. These methods allow the full operational lifetime of an anchoring system to be rapidly analysed, encompassing timescales from individual wave-induced load cycles, through to annual seasons and soil consolidation processes. The approach provides a new basis for whole-life modelling of anchoring systems that is sufficiently fast to allow reliability-based assessments via a Monte Carlo method. In soft soils that exhibit beneficial gains in capacity, this method provides a basis for more efficient design through reductions in anchor size.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2023-01-01
Publication Title
Applied Ocean Research
Volume
138
ISSN
0141-1187
Acceptance Date
2023-07-13
Deposit Date
2024-06-04
Embargo Period
2023-11-08
Funding
This work forms part of research supported by the EPSRC Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub (Grant EPSRC EP/S000747/1) and by the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Research Fellowship Programme and the RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies Centre of Excellence in Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering (IROE).
Keywords
Offshore geotechnics, Anchors and foundations, Floating offshore renewable energy, Whole-life geotechnics
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kwa, K., White, D., Tosdevin, T., Jin, S., & Greaves, D. (2023) 'Whole-life modelling of anchor capacity for floating systems: The RSN CSI approach', Applied Ocean Research, 138. Available at: 10.1016/j.apor.2023.103671
