Effect of Scour on the Behavior of Laterally Loaded Single Piles in Marine Clay

Most offshore and coastal structures are supported by pile foundations, which are subjected to large lateral loads due to wind, wave, and water currents. Water currents can induce scouring around piles that reduces lateral capacity and increases lateral deflection of a pile. Current design methods mostly consider the complete removal of soil layers around piles by scouring. In reality, however, scouring creates scour holes at different shapes, sizes, and depths. Their effects on the behavior of laterally loaded piles are not well investigated. A numerical model of a single pile in soft marine clay was first calibrated against field test data without scour. Then several key factors of scour were analyzed, such as the depth, width, and slope of the scour hole and the diameter and head fixity of the pile. The relationships of the ultimate lateral capacity of the single pile with the depth, width, and slope angle of the scour hole were obtained. The numerical results show that the scour depth had more significant influence on the pile lateral capacity than the scour width. In addition, the pile with a free head was more sensitive to scour than the pile with a fixed head.     

软粘土中插入式大直径薄壁圆筒结构的一种极限状态分析模型

根据插入式大直径薄壁圆筒结构的工作特点建立了其合理的破坏机制，以此为基础建立了受横向荷载作用的插入式大直径薄壁圆筒结构的上限法极限分析模型，从中可以得到作用于插入式大直径薄壁圆筒结构上的横向极限荷载近似的上限解；并根据上限法模型计算结果，提出了计算受横向荷载作用的插入式大圆筒结构侧壁极限抗力的简化修正模型，利用此修正模型，基于极限平衡法，可以求解作用于插入式大直径薄壁圆筒结构上的横向极限荷载。     

Modulus of Subgrade Reaction for Laterally Loaded Piles in Multiple Layered Foundation

-According to the field test data of laterally loaded steel piles at home and abroad,an empiri-cal formula for evaluating the modulus of subgrade reaction under static load in layered soil is proposed.The suggested formula takes account of not only non-linearity of K_s with the depth but also its variationwith the load.It is shown that the computed bending moments along the pile shaft and the deflection atthe pile top are consistent with the measured ones.     

Finite Element Analysis of Laterally Loaded Suction Caisson in Anisotropic Clay

1 .IntroductionSuctioncaissons have been widely usedfor offshore oil exploration duetothe advantages of econo-my and simple installation over traditional piles (Huanget al .,2003) .For tensionleg platforms andspar platforms in deep ocean,suction caissons …     

桩基尺寸对砂土中水平受荷桩-土作用力的影响

p-y 曲线法在水平受荷桩的设计中得到了广泛应用,然而近年来在海上风机超大直径单桩基础设计中受到了学术界和工程界的质疑,当前研究表明,桩基尺寸是产生这一问题的主要原因。本文通过三维数值仿真技术,研究了砂土地基中水平受荷桩-土作用特征的演变规律,探讨了当前超大直径单桩设计方法存在的主要问题及产生的原因。计算结果显示：超大直径单桩基础因其桩径大、长径比（入土长度与直径的比） 小的尺寸特征,在水平荷载作用下桩土作用具有明显的三维空间效应,即除受水平向土反力外,还受到桩端水平向的摩擦力、沿桩身不均匀摩阻力产生的抵抗力矩及桩底不均匀土反力提供的抵抗力矩;进一步研究表明,后三类抗力对桩基水平承载力的贡献占比与桩基尺寸有关,即桩基直径越大、长径比越小,这些抗力的贡献越大。因此,在水平受荷超大直径单桩承载特性计算与分析的过程中,除当前水平向p-y 弹簧提供的抗力外,还应考虑桩底的水平剪力、桩身摩擦力和桩底反力不平衡产生的抵抗力矩。     

海洋工程中桩基水平向承载力可靠指标的影响因素分析

桩基础水平向承载力的计算是海洋工程中桩基设计的重要组成部分。论文在搜集了大量平台建设资料的基础上,以现有的桩基水平向承载力的设计计算方法为依据,进行了水平向承载力的可靠度研究。对影响可靠指标的各个因素进行了灵敏度分析。     

Pullout Capacity of Horizontally Loaded Suction Anchor Installed in Silty Sand

Current floating structures require more reliable and higher anchoring capacities because of their increased size. A suction anchor is one of the most popular anchors for a floating system. In this study, the behavior of a suction anchor installed in cohesionless soil was investigated when the anchor was subjected to mainly a horizontal load. Three-dimensional finite element numerical analyses were carried out using ABAQUS, and three centrifuge tests were performed to calibrate the numerical analyses. A parametric study with different dimensions and loading points for the suction anchor was conducted. The horizontal capacity of the suction anchor was estimated, and the soil reaction distribution was analyzed when the load was applied at the optimal point. Based on the results, an analytical equation for calculating the horizontal capacity of a suction anchor was proposed that can be easily adopted for design.     

黄河三角洲潮滩孔压对循环振动荷载响应研究

为了研究黄河三角洲潮滩孔压对循环振动荷载的响应过程,在现场潮滩上利用循环振动荷载作用于海床,实时监测了振动过程中孔压的发展过程。研究结果表明:在每一轮振动过程中,超孔压并非是一直升高的,其发展过程主要可以分成3个阶段:首先是累积阶段,在此期间内超孔压迅速积累并达到一峰值,即"超孔压最大响应值";其次是过渡阶段,在此期间超孔压基本保持稳定;而后是消散阶段,即超孔压从最大响应值开始缓慢消散。在振动过程中,产生的最大超孔压是振动能量的指数函数,而且不同深度所产生的最大超孔压不同,存在一极值响应深度。在超孔压累积阶段,尽管不同深度超孔压的累积历程不同,但其累积形式具有一致性,即超孔压是以振动次数为自变量的二次函数,而且,超孔压的累积速率是线性降低的。     

Earth Pressure on Caissons in Marine Clay Under Cyclic Loading

Coastal protection is proposed to be made out of a contiguous caisson type of wall. These caissons can be designed to resist both lateral static and cyclic loading. With adequate depth of embedment, the walls can be designed to offer significant lateral passive resistance to counteract the lateral static and cyclic loading arising out of wave action. This article describes a set of laboratory tests on model caissons embedded into soft marine clay with different embedment depths. Specially designed earth pressure cells are embedded into the caisson at different depths. A pneumatic system was used to apply lateral static and cyclic loading. Test beds were prepared conforming to soft clay conditions in a test tank of appropriate size. The test results reveal that with this type of arrangement the variation in earth pressure with depth can be conveniently established. The earth pressure developed is related to the lateral load applied. The depth at which the maximum earth pressure occurs is same for both static and cyclic loading. Further, under cyclic loading there is no failure encountered even under cyclic loading level corresponding to 0.9 times the ultimate static lateral capacity.     

Stability Analysis of Bohai Oil-Drilling Ship No. 6 Under Static and Cyclic Loads

- This paper presents a procedure to calculate the safety factor against sliding of a marine gravity structure subjected to a combination of static and cyclic loads. This procedure claculates the stress at the sliding surface by the finite element method (FEM) and takes the dynamic properties of clay into account. With this procedure, the stability of a Bohai oil-drilling ship is analyzed. The calculated safety factor is much smaller than 1, indicating that this oil-drilling ship would fail just as what had happened to it.     

Lateral cyclic response of an aluminum model pile in sand

Lateral cyclic load tests were performed on an aluminum model pile in dry sand. Two levels of loading were adopted to represent different service load conditions. The maximum number of loading cycles was 1,000. From the test results, it was found that the even though in the service load condition, the pile response was still affected by cyclic effects and a larger load level would produce more significant influence. In a global point of view, the lateral displacement and maximum moment increased with loading cycles, while the secant stiffness within a cycle decreased with cycles. The cyclic effect was more significant on the lateral displacement than on the moment. In a local point of view, cyclic loading would degrade the equivalent subgrade stiffness for the soil shallower than about seven times diameter. In addition, the secant subgrade stiffness within a cycle increased with loading cycles. Some experimental relationships of lateral pile response and loading cycles were built and compared with those in the literature.     

Degradation of lateral bearing capacity of piles in soft clay subjected to cyclic lateral loading

Abstract

In this article, the degradation of the lateral bearing capacity of piles in soft clay subjected to cyclic lateral loading is studied numerically. A modified kinematic hardening constitutive model is employed to simulate the degradation of soft clay after cyclic loading. The modified model is verified by comparing the numerical simulation results with the results of centrifuge model tests. Furthermore, the modified model is applied to numerical simulations for evaluating the lateral bearing capacity of piles in soft clay subjected to cyclic lateral loading. The degradation of the lateral bearing capacity of piles in soft clay after different cyclic displacement levels and different numbers of cycles is investigated. The study reveals that the modified kinematic hardening constitutive model can effectively estimate the cyclic degradation behavior of piles in soft clay subjected to cyclic lateral loading. The degradation of the ultimate lateral bearing capacity progresses slowly with increasing cyclic displacement level for fewer cycles, and the degradation develops significantly at higher levels of cyclic displacement after applying a larger number of cycles.     

Response of offshore piles embedded in cemented and noncemented calcareous sediments

Abstract

A nonlinear pile‐soil interface model incorporated in a boundary element analysis is presented to simulate both the static and cyclic behavior of piles embedded in cemented and noncemented calcareous sediments. Based on the soil parameters derived from model test data, theoretical predictions are made for a few field tests. Finally, theoretical solutions are obtained for a full‐scale hypothetical pile embedded in homogeneous and layered calcareous sediments.     

循环荷载下饱和粉土地基单桩水平承载特性试验研究

在饱和粉土地基中进行了单桩水平静力和循环加载室内模型试验,实测得到静载和循环荷载下桩身弯矩与深度的关系、桩身最大弯矩与循环次数之间的关系等,推导出静载和循环荷载下粉土的p-y曲线,并结合API规范给出了针对粉土地基的相关参数。单桩循环加载试验结果表明,在一定深度内随着循环次数增大,粉土极限抗力显著减小,文中给出了不同循环次数和深度下粉土地基极限抗力的折减系数建议值。     

Determination of Shaft Capacity for Pile under Cyclic Axial Loading in Clay

For load-controlled and displacement-controlled test data of piles cyclically axially loaded in clay, the displacement conditions are suggested for determining the shaft capacity. According to the suggested displacement conditions, not only the results of shaft capacity from laboratory model piles are close to those from in-situ piles, but also the results of load-controlled tests are in satisfactory agreement with those of displacement-controlled tests. Moreover, based on the test data of laboratory model piles in combination with the test data published, the paper suggests the values of the normalized shaft capacity of piles under a variety of static and cyclic loading combinations.     

循环水压作用下粉土渗流试验研究

海底塌陷凹坑是黄河三角洲地区常见的一种地貌现象,广泛分布于近代沉积海床中。虽然目前海底塌陷凹坑形成机理尚未明确,但普遍认为其成因与波浪引起的海床渗流有关。为此,设计模拟波压力的实验装置,对粉土施加40kPa循环水压荷载,研究正常固结粉土在液化渗流条件下的侵蚀过程。试验过程中,粉土液化时产生2种不同的裂隙,即倾斜状的"干裂隙"和水平状的"水夹层";孔隙水从"水夹层"中渗出,把从土样侧壁冲刷下的物质运移至土样表面堆积,形成"泥火山"。试验表明,土体内气泡溢出对表层土的侵蚀具有强化作用;循环荷载产生的孔隙水压力梯度是粉土液化渗流动力,而渗流过程对土的粒径成分具有粗化作用;分析结果表明,波压力引起的海床渗流是长效的作用机制,不同于地震荷载引起的渗流侵蚀。这种侵蚀模式是海底塌陷凹坑形成的主要原因。     

Behavior of Pile Group with Elevated Cap Subjected to Cyclic Lateral Loads

The pile group with elevated cap is widely used as foundation of offshore structures such as turbines, power transmission towers and bridge piers, and understanding its behavior under cyclic lateral loads induced by waves, tide water and winds, is of great importance to designing. A large-scale model test on 3×3 pile group with elevated cap subjected to cyclic lateral loads was performed in saturated silts. The preparation and implementation of the test is presented. Steel pipes with the outer diameter of 114 mm, thickness of 4.5 mm, and length of 6 m were employed as model piles. The pile group was cyclic loaded in a multi-stage sequence with the lateral displacement controlled. In addition, a single pile test was also conducted at the same site for comparison. The displacement of the pile cap, the internal forces of individual piles, and the horizontal stiffness of the pile group are presented and discussed in detail. The results indicate that the lateral cyclic loads have a greater impact on pile group than that on a single pile, and give rise to the significant plastic strain in the soil around piles. The lateral loads carried by each row of piles within the group would be redistributed with loading cycles. The lateral stiffness of the pile group decreases gradually with cycles and broadly presents three different degradation patterns in the test. Significant axial forces were measured out in some piles within the group, owing to the strong restraint provided by the cap, and finally lead to a large settlement of the pile group. These findings can be referred for foundation designing of offshore structures.     

Estimation of Undrained Bearing Capacity for Offshore Soft Foundations with Cyclic Load

The degradation strength of soils under cyclic loading is studied and a method for deter-mining the cyclic degradation strength with cyclic triaxial tests is given in the paper.Furthermore,a dum-my static method for estimating the undrained bearing capacity for offshore soft foundation under waveloads is developed.It can consider the effect of the difference of cyclic stress for different parts of the foun-dation on both the degradation strength of the foundation soil and the bearing capacity so that the esti-mated result can better reflect the real condition of foundation under cyclic loading.The method can be ap-plied to plane and space problem.     

A numerical investigation of influence of low-plasticity fines in sand on lateral response of piles

Abstract

Experimental evidence suggests that sands containing non-plastic or low-plasticity fines may show either decreasing or increasing shear strength with increasing fines content in certain situations. Accordingly, the presence of low-plasticity fines can significantly affect the ultimate lateral soil resistance; thus low-plasticity fines can affect the lateral response of piles. In this study, a quantitative method is proposed for determining the effect of low-plasticity fines in sand on the lateral response of piles in sand by combining a strain wedge model and a unified critical state compatible (UCSC) framework. An equivalent granular state parameter is employed in the UCSC framework to define the soil state uniquely in the strain wedge. The proposed quantitative method is incorporated in a finite element program. A series of numerical analyses are performed on a laterally loaded pile embedded in various relative densities of the base (clean) sand, to which various quantities of low-plasticity fines are added. The effect of low-plasticity fines on the lateral response is investigated. Furthermore, the effect of the low-plasticity fines on the response of the strain wedge is discussed.