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Cyclic Behavior of Bucket Anchor Foundation in Silty Sand under Sustained Pull-Out Loads via Centrifuge Model Tests

  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Published:
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Aims and scope

Abstract

In recent, suction anchor foundations have been encouraged as an alternative for supporting offshore wind turbines in the deep sea. The foundation for offshore wind turbine foundation should be designed considering the cyclic forces, which cause an accumulated displacement of the structure and degradation of the stiffness of the ground-foundation system. However, previous researches for suction anchor behaviors have mostly focused on static loads, although the forces applying on the offshore structure are cyclic in the sea. Moreover, since the suction anchors are always subjected to sustained pullout loads combined with cyclic loading due to the buoyancy forces of the structure, evaluating the in-service performance of suction anchor foundations considering cyclic loadings with sustained pullout loads is also required. In this study, the responses of a suction anchor foundation under cyclic loading along with sustained pull-out loads were investigated via centrifuge model tests. Consequently, it was observed that the behavior of the suction anchor are dependent on the sustained pullout loads, as well as the cyclic loading. This study highlights that the ratio of sustained pull-out loads as well as the cyclic load effect must be considered when analyzing design loads to accurately evaluate the bearing resistance of the suction anchor foundation.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted with the support of the “National R&D Project for Smart Construction Technology (No.20SMIP-A158708-01)” funded by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and managed by the Korea Expressway Corporation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Convergence Technology Research Team, Daewoo E&C, Seoul, 04548, Korea

    Yeong Hoon Jeong

  2. Dep. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea

    Jun Sik Bae

  3. Dept. of Civil Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 24341, Korea

    Jae Hyun Kim

  4. Geotechnical Research Department, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Goyang, 10223, Korea

    Changho Choi

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  1. Yeong Hoon Jeong
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  2. Jun Sik Bae
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  4. Changho Choi
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Correspondence to Changho Choi.

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Jeong, Y.H., Bae, J.S., Kim, J.H. et al. Cyclic Behavior of Bucket Anchor Foundation in Silty Sand under Sustained Pull-Out Loads via Centrifuge Model Tests. KSCE J Civ Eng 26, 1632–1642 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-021-0779-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-021-0779-1

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