Theoretical studies on penetration resistance of suction caissons in clay

ABSTRACT

The suction caisson is commonly a top-closed cylindrical steel structure with large diameter, short length and much thinner skirt wall thickness. The resistance to penetrating is calculated as the sum of the tip bearing capacity and the adhesion on the both sides of the skirt wall. Since the thickness of the skirt wall is very small, the downward adhesion produced by the skirt wall will cause the additional vertical stress and shear stress in the soil at the skirt tip level, increasing the skirt tip resistance. However, the increase in skirt tip resistance caused by the additional vertical stress rather than shear stress in soil at the skirt tip level was only considered, this may lead to an inaccurate estimation for the tip bearing capacity and the suction required. Thus, a modified slip-line field is put forward in this study to estimate the tip resistance. The expression of obtaining the minimum suction to install the suction caisson in clay is derived in terms of the force equilibrium. Results from calculations of the minimum suction have been proved to be in a good agreement with the measured data.