Discussion: A review on the behaviour of helical piles as a potential offshore foundation system

Abstract

Helical piles have emerged as an attractive foundation system for offshore applications with renewed interest from the offshore community. Significant research gap currently exists in transferring this technology offshore and this paper discusses how existing and emerging knowledge can be successfully used to bridge some of the gaps. We focus on the Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) large deformation finite element (LDFE) modelling technique that is commercially available and can be used to model the three-dimensional installation process with consideration of strain rate and softening effects in soft offshore clays. A helical pile of L?=?7.5?m long is modelled with one or two large-diameter helices (D?=?2?m) attached to a central shaft of d?=?0.5?m in diameter.The net effect of strain rate and softening is to increase the installation torque. The measured torque is within the range of 200–400?kN.m for the offshore clay and the pile geometry studied. Additional helices increase the uplift force but to a lesser degree than that of the measured torque. Remoulding induced strength reduction is found to be within the range of 25–33% of the intact clay strength. Issues of extracting and reusing offshore helical pile foundations are discussed.     

Sediment–water interactions of natural oestrogens under estuarine conditions

The natural human female hormones oestrone and 17β-oestradiol have been implicated in the disruption of endocrine systems in some wildlife adjacent to sewage effluents. The sorption behaviour of these two compounds under estuarine conditions was studied by spiking either 2.55 μg of oestrone or 2.65 μg of 17β-oestradiol in kinetic experiments. In equilibrium experiments, 3 ng of oestrone or 3.2 ng of 17β-oestradiol was added in each of the centrifuge tubes. Sorption onto sediment particles was relatively slow, with sorption equilibrium being reached in about 70 and 170 h for oestrone and 17β-oestradiol, respectively. The effects of a variety of environmental parameters on sorption were studied including salinity, sediment concentration (SC), the presence of a third phase, particle size and, also, surfactant concentrations. Results show that although salinity did not induce any statistically significant effect on the sorption of 17β-oestradiol, it did statistically enhance the sorption of oestrone, and a salting constant of 0.3 l mol⁻¹ was derived. The partition coefficient for both compounds decreased with increasing sediment concentration, a phenomenon that has been widely reported and attributed to the presence of colloids (which could enhance dissolved concentrations). In this paper, the true partition coefficients for sediment particles (K_p^true) and colloidal particles (K_c^true) have been calculated, and a K_p^true value of 141 and 102 ml g⁻¹ was obtained for oestrone and 17β-oestradiol, respectively. In addition, K_c^true values for oestrone (222×10² ml g⁻¹) and 17β-oestradiol (135×10² ml g⁻¹) were two orders of magnitude higher than their respective K_p^true values, suggesting that the colloidal particles are significantly stronger sorbents for natural oestrogens than sediment particles. Particles of different sizes were found to have different partition coefficients due to the strong relationships between partition coefficients for the two compounds and particulate organic carbon (POC) contents and specific surface areas (SSAs). The presence of a surfactant was shown to reduce the partition coefficients for the two compounds, although its concentrations being used were higher than those normally found in the natural environment.     

Underice Operation of SJT-5 ROV

- The authors have used a low-cost ROV of observation type for underice surveying of the Nen-Jiang Cross-river oil pipe line in the Da Qing oil field. The operation method, process and the safety measures for severe cold areas are presented. The fruitful tries and experience may be useful to ROV operators in severe cold areas.     

A Numerical Model of Coastal Processes of Sand Beaches Based on Long-Term Wave Series

A numerical model of shoreline change of sand beaches based on long-term field wave data is proposed, the explicit and implicit finite difference forms of the model are described, and an application of the model is presented. Results of the application indicate that the model is sensitive to the order of the input wave data, and that the effects of long-term wave series and the effects of the mean annual wave conditions on the model are different. Instead of a single wave condition, the wave series will make the calibration and the verification of the model more practical and the results of the model more reasonable.     

Calculation of transverse hydrodynamic coefficients using computational fluid dynamic approach

Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) based on Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes equation is used for determining the transverse hydrodynamic damping force and moment coefficients that are needed in the maneuverability study of marine vehicles. Computations are performed for two geometrical shapes representing typical AUVs presently in use. Results are compared with available data on similar geometries and from some of the available semi-empirical relations. It is found that the CFD predictions compares reasonable well with these results. In particular, the CFD predictions of forces and moments are found to be nonlinear with respect to the transverse velocity, and therefore both linear and nonlinear coefficients can be derived. A discussion on the sources of the component forces reveal that the total force and moment variations should in fact be nonlinear.     

比较原理在多有理数时滞区间系数离散系统的应用

应用多组有理数时滞离散系统的比较原理和频域法,将多组有理数时滞区间系数离散系统化为多组有理数时滞定常离散系统,以判定其时滞无关稳定性,并举例说明了新定理的有效性和实用性。     

完全混合活性污泥法处理含海水污水时基质降解与需氧量之间的关系

文章采用完全混合活性污泥法研究了大生活用海水进入城市污水系统后 ,不同海水盐度下基质降解与需氧量之间的关系。结果表明随着污水中海水比例的增加 ,代谢单位重量有机物所需的氧量和污泥自身氧化需氧率也呈增加趋势     

Separation of Waves by Interpolation Method

1 .ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｏｍｅａｓｕｒｅｔｈｅｒｅｆｌｅｃｔｉｏｎｏｆｉｎｃｉｄｅｎｔｗａｖｅｓｐｒｏｄｕｃｅｄｂｙａｐｈｙｓｉｃａｌｍｏｄｅｌｉｎａｗａｖｅｆｌｕｍｅｉｓａｃｏｍｍｏｎｐｒｏｂｌｅｍｗｉｔｈｐｈｙｓｉｃａｌｔｅｓｔｓｏｆｗａｖｅａｃｔｉｏｎｏｎｃｏａｓｔａｌｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒｅｓ .Ｗａｖｅｓｇｅｎｅｒａｔｅｄｂｙｔｈｅｗａｖｅ ｍａｋｅｒｐｒｏｐａｇａｔｅｆｏｒｗａｒｄｉｎｔｈｅｗａｖｅｆｌｕｍｅａｎｄａｒｅｒｅｆｌｅｃｔｅｄｂｙｔｈｅｐｈｙｓｉｃａｌｍｏｄｅｌ,ａｎｄｔｈｅ…     

海岸工程中海浪数值模拟和环境参数选取的进展

主要介绍了我国近的来在海岸工程设计，建设中有关海浪数值模拟及环境参数选取方面的研究进展。     

水面皮层破坏-复原过程的实验室模拟研究

依据水面红外发射和红外遥感测温原理，采用HDG－高灵敏度红外测温仪和常规测量仪器相结合的方法，在实验室空气稳定条件下，模拟测得了水面皮层破坏－复原（重建）的热力过程和气－水温差对水面皮层复原过程的影响，获得了大量的测量数据。数据分析表明，当气－水温差从3．0℃变为11．5℃时，水面皮层破坏可导致皮温增量从气－水温差3．0℃时的0．15℃变到11．5℃时的0．45℃，并发现恢复时间与气－水温差呈负线性关系。