复杂土层中自升式平台桩靴安装穿刺预测

由于复杂海洋工程地质条件的普遍性,自升式平台在安装过程中穿刺事故频发,近年来涌现出大量针对自升式平台桩靴基础在复杂土层中穿刺预测方法的研究。为了方便工程设计人员的理解和使用,首先简单介绍这些研究中所采用的技术手段,总结现行规范ISO 19905-1建议的桩靴在复杂土层中贯入阻力的预测方法以及最新文献中提出的新的设计方法,并对规范方法和新方法的优缺点进行了评价。所总结的设计方法针对国内外常见的含穿刺风险的海洋地基形式,包括双层"砂—黏"、三层"硬—软—硬"黏性土、三层"软—硬—软"黏性土、三层"黏—砂—黏"地层以及四层"黏—砂—黏—硬层土"地层。通过对离心机模型试验的预测,对规范方法和新方法的预测精度进行了比较,对比结果显示新方法对桩靴穿刺破坏的预测更为合理精确。     

黏土地基上海洋平台桩靴峰值阻力上限分析

在自升式平台的预压载过程中，桩靴在层状地基上较易发生“穿刺”现象，很大程度上影响着平台的安全运行。准确地分析桩靴峰值阻力，避免平台桩靴发生“穿刺”是非常重要的。采用极限分析上限定理，合理构建运动许可速度场，从理论上推导了层状地基上桩靴峰值阻力的上限解答。为了进一步验证峰值阻力理论解答的准确性，采用ABAQUS有限元软件构建了“桩靴—弹塑性海床”的三维数值模型，对桩靴贯入海床的过程进行了数值模拟，分析桩靴周围土体的塑性变形演变规律，研究土体的破坏机理。研究结果表明：推导的桩靴峰值阻力上限解答，能够较好地计算层状地基极限承载能力，通过与离心机试验和数值结果对比，计算误差在18%以内；给出的运动许可速度场能够较好地反映桩靴周围土体破坏模式；桩靴阻力达到峰值时，下层软土中的土塞高度约为桩靴直径的0.2倍。     

单一地层平台插桩地基土破坏模式及插桩深度有限元分析

自升式平台插桩是地基土在桩靴荷载作用下发生连续塑性破坏的过程,当地基极限承载力等于桩靴荷载时插桩完成。经典土力学极限承载力理论对土体潜在滑动面做了假设,无法有效分析土体内部的破坏过程。因而,研究采用有限元极限分析法对单一地层中插桩时地基土渐进破坏过程进行了模拟,并与Skempton、Terzaghi公式计算的极限承载力进行了对比,取得了较为一致的结果,同时对插桩深度进行了预测。     

自升式钻井船插桩对邻近平台桩基影响的评价方法探讨

自升式钻井船被广泛用于中、浅水域油气钻井、勘探开发或平台维修等海洋工程。通常,钻井船靠作业臂工作,由于其极限长度有限,所以钻井船作业时经常紧邻固定式导管架海洋平台。软弱土层中,钻井船就位时插桩深度较深,插桩过程中大量土体被排开,致使邻近平台桩基可能承受很大的附加荷载,这些附加荷载与桩基原有的荷载相叠加,很有可能超出其原有设计承载能力,引起严重的工程安全隐患和经济损失。如何可靠地评估自升式钻井船插桩对邻近导管架平台桩基的影响,从而优化钻井船定位并指导导管架平台桩基础的早期设计,是我国当前海上油气开发亟需解决的一个难点问题,迄今为止尚没有形成一种被广泛认可的方法。基于此,系统阐述了评价自升式钻井船插桩对邻近桩基影响的方法,包括模型试验、简化理论方法和数值方法,分析了现有方法中存在的问题,并对未来的研究方向提出了建议,供读者参考。     

自升自航式船桩靴入泥初步分析

初步分析自升自航式船桩靴的入泥过程、入泥机理和入泥深度的组成,讨论桩靴入泥深度的计算分析方法,将入泥过程看作基础埋深增大的过程,用极限承载力公式分析计算桩靴的入泥深度和适宜的地基。     

弱超固结黏土中桩靴贯入形成孔洞对承载力影响

自升式平台作业前需对桩靴基础进行预压安装,使桩靴具备抵抗竖向-水平-弯矩复合荷载的能力。安装过程中,桩靴上部将形成一定深度的孔洞。弱超固结黏土地基中,土体强度较高,桩靴最终贯入深度较浅,而形成的上部孔洞较深,因此孔洞将对桩靴就位后的承载力产生影响。通过有限元分析,研究弱超固结黏土中桩靴上部孔洞对承载力的影响,结果表明:1)与无孔洞的情况相比,孔洞的存在对桩靴的单向和复合承载力有削弱作用; 2)当桩靴与孔洞底部距离大于桩靴直径时,承载力不再受上部孔洞的影响; 3)当桩靴埋深小于等于0.75倍桩靴直径时,无论桩靴上部有无孔洞,现有预测公式都不能较为合理地预测弱超固结黏土地基的复合承载力,为此提出了考虑孔洞影响的桩靴复合承载力包络面预测公式。     

自升式钻井平台拔桩机理探析

海上自升式钻井平台完成预定工作后,将收起桩靴迁航到下一个目的地,桩靴的拔出是由支撑状态向漂浮状态过渡的重要过程,是自升式钻井平台正常作业不可缺少的重要组成部分。在这个过程中,拔桩阻力的预测对于桩靴上拔安全至关重要。笔者通过对平台拔桩阻力进行分析,并结合中油海平台近几年的拔桩作业经验,提出了施工中的注意事项,具有一定的指导意义。     

自升式平台穿刺过程结构响应研究

为减少自升式平台穿刺造成的损失,需要对自升式平台穿刺过程中的结构响应进行研究。根据某典型平台图纸,使用有限元法建立细化模型。在穿刺过程中采用CONNECTOR单元及非线性弹簧模拟自升式平台围阱区的齿轮齿条接触及桩土作用。考虑到模型中包含的高度非连续过程,穿刺过程采用显式动力学方法求解。通过分析模型穿刺后的结构形态,危险点分布,穿刺速度对结构的影响及预压载值的变化,探讨自升式平台穿刺过程中的结构响应特征。结果表明:平台导向板附近桩腿结构最容易在穿刺中损坏;穿刺速度对与桩靴相连的桩腿结构影响很大;为减少穿刺对结构的影响,可以考虑主动刺穿或减少气隙进行单桩预压载等措施。     

自由落体式球形贯入仪在硬-软黏土中的贯入响应

自由落体贯入仪（free falling penetrometer,简称FFP）通过自由下落贯入土层中,由于其高效便捷的特性,越来越广泛地被应用于海底浅层土体原位勘察。采用耦合欧拉-拉格朗日（Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian,简称CEL）方法,进行了球形FFP在硬-软双层黏土中贯入的大变形有限元分析,考虑了土体的应变率和应变软化效应。与离心机试验、现场试验和数值模拟结果进行了对比,验证了模型的可靠性。分析了成层土对贯入过程的影响,发现FFP在贯入过程中上部硬黏土层形成空腔,且底部会伴随着土塞。通过广泛的变参数分析结果,拟合了球形FFP最终贯入深度与总能量之间的归一化表达式,建立了土体不排水抗剪强度、FFP直径和贯入速度与FFP在硬-软黏土层中最终贯入深度的关系。     

喷冲系统降低拔桩阻力有效性的试验研究

自升式作业平台是勘探开采海洋油气资源的重要装备。在其使用期内,需要多次移动位置。移动之前,自升式平台通过桩腿拔出桩靴。拔桩过程可能因地质条件复杂而费时费力。喷冲系统对降低拔桩阻力的功效明显。通过单喷嘴试验,本文研究不同地质条件下的喷冲参数变化规律,并探讨参数之间的相互影响。通过桩靴模型喷冲试验,验证喷冲系统降低拔桩阻力的有效性。试验结果将为进一步设计能够有效降低自升式平台拔桩阻力的喷冲系统提供技术支持。     

Bearing capacity and critical punch-through depth of spudcan on sand overlying clay

Spudcan may experience punch-through failure on strong over weak layered soils, such as sand overlying clay. A large deformation finite element method （LDFE） is used to simulate the penetration process of spudcan into sand overlying clay. The sand is simulated by smoothed hyperbolic Mohr-Coulomb model, and the clay is simulated by a simple elasto-plastic model which obeys Tresca yield criterion. According to the LDFE results of a large amount of cases, the effects of the strength, unit weight and thickness of the top sand layer, as well as the effect of the strength of the underlying clay on the spudcan punch-through behavior, are investigated. The critical depth occurring punch-through and the critical bearing capacity are presented in charts. Fitting equations to calculate the critical punch-through depth and the critical bearing capacity are proposed for the convenience of engineering practice.     

A finite element approach for predicting the full resistance profile of a spudcan deeply penetrating in dense sand overlying clay

This paper presents a finite element approach to calculate the full resistance profile of a spudcan deeply penetrating in dense sand overlying clay, in which a potential for an installing spudcan to experience a sudden uncontrolled punch-through failure exists. A modified Mohr-Coulomb model characterized by incorporating a four-phase variation of the mobilized strength and dilation parameters with an equivalent accumulated plastic strain is developed and tested for the overlying dense silica sand. An extended Tresca model is used for the strain softening of the underlying clay. A series of large deformation finite-element (LDFE) analyses are carried out, varying the strength and dilation parameters as well as the spudcan geometries. A fairly good performance of the present approach is verified by validating against groups of centrifuge tests data, allowing the numerical study to be extended parametrically. The four-phase variation of the mobilized strength and dilation parameters involved in the progressive failure of the upper dense sand is parametrically studied and extended to cover the range of sand relative densities that are of practical interest. Additionally, comparisons with the typical existing LDFE analyses using both simple and sophisticated constitutive models are carried out. It shows that the present approach performs fairly well to calculate the full resistance profile of a spudcan deeply penetration in both thin and thick dense sand overlying clay, especially the peak and post-peak resistance, within around 5% of the corresponding centrifuge tests results.     

Large deformation finite element analysis of the installation of suction caisson in clay

The suction caisson (or called suction anchor) which is considered as a relatively new type of foundation of offshore structures, has been extensively studied and applied for offshore wind turbines and oil platforms. The installation of the suction caisson is of great importance in the design and construction because it can bring about several issues and further influence the performance of holding capacity in safety service. In this paper, large deformation finite element (FE) analyses are performed to model the installation of suction caisson (SC) by suction and jacking in normally consolidated clay. The penetration of the suction caisson is modeled using an axisymmetric FE approach with the help of the Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) formulation which can satisfactorily solve the large deformation problem. The undrained shear strength of the clay and elastic modulus are varied with depth of soil through the subroutine VUFIELD. The numerical results allow quantification of the penetration resistance and its dependence on the installation method. The centrifuge test and theoretical solution are used for the FE model validation. After the validation, the penetration resistance, the soil plug heave, and the caisson wall friction have been examined through the FE model. Based on the numerical results, it is shown that the ALE technique can simulate the entire suction caisson penetration without mesh distortion problem. The installation method can play an important role on the penetration resistance, namely, the suction installation reduces the penetration resistance significantly compared to the purely jacked installation. With a further study on the suction case, it is found that as the final applied suction pressure increases, the soil plug heave increases, while the penetration resistance reduces with increase of the final suction pressure. The effect of the friction of internal caisson walls has been also investigated and a conclusion is drawn that internal wall friction has a significant contribution to the penetration resistance and it can be implicitly represented by varying coefficient of internal wall friction. As for the penetration resistance, both jacked and suction installation have great dependency on the internal wall friction.     

Numerical Simulation of Installation Process and Uplift Resistance for An Integrated Suction Foundation in Deep Ocean

A concept design, named integrated suction foundation, is proposed for a tension leg platform (TLP) in deep ocean. The most important improvement in comparing with the traditional one is that a pressure-resistant storage module is designed. It utilizes the high hydrostatic pressure in deep ocean to drive water into the module to generate negative pressure for bucket suction. This work aims to further approve the feasibility of the concept design in the aspect of penetration installation and the uplift force in-place. Seepage is generated during suction penetration, and can have both positive and negative effects on penetration process. To study the effect of seepage on the penetration process of the integrated suction foundation, finite element analysis (FEA) is carried out in this work. In particular, an improved methodology to calculate the penetration resistance is proposed for the integrated suction foundation with respect to the reduction factor of penetration resistance. The maximum allowable negative pressure during suction penetration is calculated with the critical hydraulic gradient method through FEA. The simulation results of the penetration process show that the integrated suction foundation can be installed safely. Moreover, the uplift resistance of the integrated suction foundation is calculated and the feasibility of the integrated suction foundation working on-site is verified. In all, the analysis in this work further approves the feasibility of the integrated suction foundation for TLPs in deep ocean applications.     

桩-筒组合基础在单层黏土中水平承载性能分析

桩-筒组合基础是将单桩基础与筒型基础组合的一种新型海上风电基础形式,其受力模式不同于传统桩基基础,优点是可通过合理减小桩长、桩壁厚等途径提高承载性能。基于极限地基反力法,提出单层黏土中桩-筒组合基础受力模式及水平承载力的计算方法。利用力加载和位移加载两种控制方法进行数值分析,研究水平承载性能的影响因素。结果表明,在一定范围内,桩-筒组合基础水平承载性能随桩入土深度、桩壁厚、筒外径的增大而提高。基于实际工程,对等用钢量的单桩基础与组合基础进行比较计算,结果表明,桩-筒组合基础可有效降低基础倾斜度和位移,提高承载性能。     

海洋平台大直径钢管桩打桩过程有限元分析研究

近年来海上工程的规模越来越大,为了满足工程需要,桩基设计常常采用大直径,大长度的钢管桩。打桩过程是个相当复杂的过程,不仅涉及到几何非线性、材料非线性、边界非线性,而且是个动力过程。有限元法在处理打桩分析方面具有很强的优势,采用PLAXIS对不同条件下的打桩问题进行了动力模拟分析。分析显示在打桩过程中,桩端土体会产生较大的水平位移和竖向位移,桩端土体和靠近桩端的部分土塞内会产生较大的超孔隙水压力。在砂土中,停锤较短时间也会使孔压迅速消散,这也是打桩中间的停锤会造成后续打桩困难的主要原因。     

Improving force resultant model for anchors in clays from large deformation finite element analysis

Abstract

This paper presents an improved plasticity force-resultant model for anchors deeply embedded in clays, developed from large deformation finite element analyses. The current available force-resultant models for anchors are mainly developed from small strain finite element analysis while experimental approach has not been used due to technical challenges. The advantage of large deformation finite element analysis is that it provides much more data points to fit the yield surface than small strain finite element analysis, in addition to avoiding excess mesh distortion problems. Furthermore, the flow rule or normality can be effectively checked in the large deformation finite element analysis and further used to improve the fitting quality. After validated against retrospective simulations, the better performance of the developed plasticity force-resultant model is demonstrated by comparing with available experimental observations from centrifuge test.     

Numerical analysis of a cylinder moving through rate-dependent undrained soil

Geo-hazard assessment of the potential damage to a pipeline caused by a submarine landslide requires a quantitative model to evaluate the impact forces on the pipeline. In contrast with typical geotechnical problems, the strain rate within the fast moving, flow-like submarine landslide is typically far higher, which will lead to enhancement of the soil strength and therefore result in larger impact forces. Generally, there are two possible predictive frameworks for strain-rate dependence: a fluid dynamics framework and a geotechnical framework. By comparison of common rheological models adopted in these two different approaches, a unified additive power-law model, a normalised form of the Herschel-Bulkley model from fluid mechanics, is explored in this paper. This model has been used in conjunction with a large deformation finite element approach to investigate the undrained limiting loads on a cylinder moving steadily through inertia-less soft rate-dependent material, in order to quantify the strain-rate effects.The flow mechanism and the effects of the shear-thinning index and Oldroyd number on the shear zones are explored. The calculated resistance factors are compared with the drag coefficients obtained from computational fluid dynamics analysis. The average rate of strain experienced by the soil flowing past the cylinder is estimated for a given flow velocity and an expression in the form of a conventional bearing capacity equation, but with shear strength linked directly to the normalised flow velocity, is proposed to predict the magnitude of the viscous force exerted by the debris flow.