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Suction Anchor OnSand
Suction Anchor OnSand
Suction Anchor OnSand
Water
t2 Z
COG
Soil
COG
t1 D
Z d D L t1 t2 W i e c p soil soil
Waterdepth Penetrationdepth Caisson diameter Caisson length Caisson wall thickness Top plate thickness Submerged weight of caisson Internal angle of internal friction External angle of internal friction (sand-steel interface) Cohesion coefficient Intrinsic flow parameter Pore pressure Soil density Soil Volumetric weight
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
v(z) h(z) v(z) h(z)
The best of all moorings! Effective stress in vertical direction at depth z Effective stress in horizontal direction at depth z Total stress in vertical direction at depth z Total stress in vertical direction at depth z
Possible forces: Vertical load force (Fv) (Submerged) Self weight caisson (Fg) Pressure differential force (Fp) Shaft friction outer surface (Fo, o) Shaft friction inner surface (Fi, i) Tip resistance (Ft, qt) Total force balance:
= W + Fp Fo Fi Ftip
(1.1)
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
Force balance
(Submerged) Self weight of anchor (W) Friction outer surface (Fo, o) Friction inner surface (Fi, i) Tip Force (Ft, qt)
At the self weight penetration depth these forces are in equilibrium resulting in a force balance given by equation(2.1).
F
Soil conditions
= W Fo Fi Ftip = 0
(2.1)
The vertical stresses are assumed to be caused by gravity alone. The pore pressure, total vertical stress and effective vertical stress are therefore given by equation (2.2) through (2.4). p = ( Z + z ) water (2.2) v = Z water + z soil (2.3) 'v = v p = z ( soil water ) (2.4) Past events can cause the horizontal stresses to differ from the expected relation for passive stresses. To determine these horizontal stresses exactly one must perform a survey, preferably in situ. However, it is possible to determine boundaries for the horizontal stresses. Since soil conditions outside of the passive and active case are in conflict with Mohr-Coulomb criterion the actual stress must be somewhere in between these two values as shown by (2.5) and visualized by Figure 4.
(2.5)
Suction Anchors
h,min
v h,max
Figure 4: Circles of Mohr
(2.6)
e i
2 3
(2.7)
The total friction over the outer surface can be found by integrating the shear stress over the outer surface area of the caisson. Substituting (2.6), (2.4) and solving yields equation (2.8) for maximal friction on the outer surface.
1 Fo = max dA = D max dz = DK a tan e ( soil water )d 2 2 0
d
(2.8)
Suction Anchors
Fi Fo
(2.9)
(2.10) (2.11)
Now the tip force can be found by multiplying the tip pressure by the surface area of the tip. This results in equation (2.14) for the tip force. Ftip = Dt1 p = Dt1 N q 'v = Dt1 N q ( soil water )d (2.14)
(2.15) By solving equation (2.15) for d, one can find a lower limit for the penetration depth. If no further data about the soil conditions is available this is the value that should be used for design purposes.
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
Force Balance
Active forces: (Submerged) Self weight of anchor (W) Pressure differential force (Fp) Shaft friction outer surface (Fo, o) Shaft friction inner surface (Fi, i) Tip resistance force (Ft, qt) The resulting force balance is given by expression (3.1), if the sum of all forces is positive the suction caisson will penetrate into the soil.
= W + Fp Fo Fi Ftip
(3.1)
(3.2)
Firstly the pressure inside the caisson cannot be less than zero; therefore the pressure difference is limited to the hydrostatic pressure. In general this is not the limiting factor, but in some shallow water applications this can be upper limit for the pressure difference. pc > 0; P = ph pc < ph (3.3)
Secondly soil failure inside the caisson can occur if the pressure gradient becomes to great. As an estimation the pore pressure at the tip of the caisson is set to be the mean of the caisson pressure and the hydrostatic pressure at the seabed as shown by relation(3.4).
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
pt =
( ph + pc ) ( Z w + pc ) = 2 2
(3.4)
By assuming a constant pressure gradient inside the skirt a relationship for the pore pressure inside the caisson can be found. It is given by equation (3.5). p = pc + p pc p z = pc + t z z d (3.5)
Soil failure will occur if the effective vertical stresses become negative since in this case the soil start to flow upwards into the suction caisson. From relationship (3.6) for the vertical effective stress a limit state for the pressure difference is formulated. The pressure difference must be kept within the boundaries given by (3.7).
'z ,2 = z ,2 p = ( s
pt pc p pc ) z = ( s h )z 2d d ph pc 2 s d
(3.6) (3.7)
So there are two limiting criteria, (3.3) and (3.7). Naturally the smallest value of the to must be used to find the maximal allowable pressure difference. To be on the save side of things the pressure difference must be kept below 90% of this value as show by(3.8).
ph pc 0.9 min( ph , 2 s d )
(3.8)
Soil conditions
As shown in the former text, the vertical effective stresses will decrease inside the caisson as a result of the water flow. Consequently the upper- and lower limit for the horizontal stresses will decrease as well. This concept is visualized in figure AA and quantified by relationship(3.9).
(3.9)
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
h,min
v h,max
Figure 5: Circles of Mohr
Outside the caisson water is attracted from all directions, therefore at the shaft surface there is no significant change in soil stresses and relationship(2.5) can be used.
e i
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
Suction Anchors
Tip resistance force
Water flow around the tip of the anchor causes the soil to weaken due to a jetting effect. A measure for this weakening effect is given by equation(3.13).
(3.13)
As was the case for the self weight penetration phase, the tip force is estimated by the Brinch-Hanssen method. In this instance the parameters are somewhat different as shown by (3.14) through(3.18).
p = cN c + qN q q = 'v 1 + sin 'i exp( tan 'i ) N 'q = 1 sin 'i c=0 Ftip = Dt1 p = Dt1 N 'q 'v = Dt1 N 'q ( soil water )d
Penetration depth
With all active forces known the final penetration depth can be calculated. For an anchor to operate correctly it is necessary that is penetrates completely. It is important to note that not all anchors will allow full penetration by suction. Therefore this is a very important design aspect. To solve this problem a numerical method has been chosen by means of an Excel sheet that can be downloaded here.
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
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Suction Anchors
4. Operation in sand
Force balance
Active forces: Vertical load force (Fv) (Submerged) Self weight caisson (Fg) Shaft friction outer surface (Fo, o) Shaft friction inner surface (Fi, i) The resulting force balance is given by expression (3.1), as long as the sum of all forces remains positive the anchor will hold.
F
Soil conditions
= W + Fo + Fi Fload
(3.19)
It is assumed that all changes in the soil stresses caused by installation of the anchor gradually go away and the soil returns to its initial state. The vertical stresses are assumed to be caused by gravity alone. The pore pressure, total vertical stress and effective vertical stress are therefore given by equation (2.2) through (2.4).
Past events can cause the horizontal stresses to differ from the expected relation for passive stresses. To determine these horizontal stresses exactly one must perform a survey, preferably in situ. However, it is possible to determine boundaries for the horizontal stresses. Since soil conditions outside of the passive and active case are in conflict with Mohr-Coulomb criterion the actual stress must be somewhere in between these two values as shown by (2.5).
(3.23)
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
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Suction Anchors
h,min
v h,max
Figure 6: Circles of Mohr
(3.24) (3.25)
The total friction over the outer surface can be found by integrating the shear stress over the outer surface area of the caisson. Substituting (2.6), (2.4) and solving yields equation (2.8) for maximal friction on the outer surface. 1 Fo = min dA = D min dz = DK p tan e ( soil water )d 2 2 0
d
(3.26)
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Suction Anchors
Fi Fo
(3.27)
There is an upper limit to the shaft friction acting on the inner surface. Since there is no cohesion in sand the friction force can never exceed the weight of the soil plug inside the anchor as shown by (3.28).
(3.28)
Load capacity
With all forces known except for the load force, it is now easy to determine the load capacity of the suction caisson. The relationship follows directly from force balance (3.19) and is given by(3.29).
Fload W + Fo + Fi
(3.29)
T.B. Bakker, M.A. de Heer, A.E Heerema,P. Smeets; Offshore Engineering; TU Delft, 2006 The use of the information of this document is at the own risk of the user/reader. The persons mentioned above assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided in this document.
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