Numerical investigation of dynamic installation of torpedo anchors in clay
TL;DR: In this paper, the results from three-dimensional dynamic finite element analysis undertaken to provide insight into the behaviour of torpedo anchors during dynamic installation in non-homogeneous clay were reported.
Abstract: This paper reports the results from three-dimensional dynamic finite element analysis undertaken to provide insight into the behaviour of torpedo anchors during dynamic installation in non-homogeneous clay. The large deformation finite element (LDFE) analyses were carried out using the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, modifying the simple elastic-perfectly plastic Tresca soil model to allow strain softening, and incorporate strain-rate dependency of the shear strength using the Herschel–Bulkley model. The results were validated against field data and centrifuge test data prior to undertaking a detailed parametric study, exploring the relevant range of parameters in terms of anchor shaft length and diameter; number, width and length of fins; impact velocity and soil strength. The anchor velocity profile during penetration in clay showed that the dynamic installation process consisted of two stages: (a) in Stage 1, the soil resistance was less than the submerged weight of the anchor and hence the anchor accelerated; (b) in Stage 2, at greater penetration, frictional and end bearing resistance dominated and the anchor decelerated. The corresponding soil failure patterns revealed two interesting aspects including (a) mobilization of an end bearing mechanism at the base of the anchor shaft and fins and (b) formation of a cavity above the shaft of the installing anchor and subsequent soil backflow into the cavity depending on the soil undrained shear strength. To predict the embedment depth in the field, an improved rational analytical embedment model, based on strain rate dependent shearing resistance and fluid mechanics drag resistance, was proposed, with the LDFE data used to calibrate the model.
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TL;DR: Cone penetration testing with pore pressure measurement (CPTU) is a cost and time-efficient way of collecting in situ geotechnical parameters of near-surface marine soils for cable and pipeline traning as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Cone penetration testing with pore pressure measurement (CPTU) is a cost- and time-efficient way of collecting in situ geotechnical parameters of near-surface marine soils for cable and pipeline tr...
58 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the results from dynamic installation of a torpedo anchor in strain softening, rate dependent soft clays, quantifying the effects relative to results for ideal Tresca material.
Abstract: Torpedo anchors (of diameter ~1 m) are released from a height of 50–100 m from the seabed, achieving velocities up to 35 m/s at impacting the sediment. The strain rates induced in the surrounding soil by this dynamic installation is therefore significantly higher than those associated with installation of other offshore foundations and anchoring systems. The high strain rates enhance the mobilised undrained shear strength compared to that measured by in-situ penetrometer or laboratory tests. This paper reports the results from dynamic installation of a torpedo anchor in strain softening, rate dependent soft clays, quantifying the effects relative to results for ideal Tresca material. The three-dimensional dynamic large deformation finite element (LDFE) analyses were carried out using the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach. The simple elastic-perfectly plastic Tresca soil model was modified to allow strain softening and strain rate dependency of the shear strength. Parametric analyses were undertaken varying the strain rate parameter, the sensitivity and ductility of the soil, and the soil undrained shear strength. Overall, embedment depth for rate dependent, strain softening clays lay below that for ideal Tresca material. Increased strain rate dependency of the soil led to marked reduction in embedment depth, only partly compensated by brittleness. Key results have been presented in the form of design charts, fitted by simple expressions to estimate the embedment depth of a torpedo anchor.
54 citations
TL;DR: Based on the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, a numerical framework is proposed in this paper to predict the embedment depth of GIAs, considering the effects of soil strain rate, soil strain-softening and hydrodynamic drag (modeled using a concentrated force), with the anchor-soil friction described appropriately.
Abstract: Gravity installed anchors (GIAs) are released from a height of 30–150 m above the seabed, achieving velocities up to 19–35 m/s at the seabed, and embed to depths of 1.0–2.4 times the anchor length. Challenges associated with GIAs include the prediction of anchor initial embedment depth, which determines the holding capacity of the anchor. Based on the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, a numerical framework is proposed in this paper to predict the embedment depth of GIAs, considering the effects of soil strain rate, soil strain-softening and hydrodynamic drag (modeled using a concentrated force), with the anchor-soil friction described appropriately. GIAs are influenced by the hydrodynamic drag before penetrating into the soil completely, hence the anchor accelerates less than the previous investigations in shallow penetration, even decelerates directly at the terminal impact velocity. The hydrodynamic drag has more influence on OMNI-Max anchors (with an error of ∼4.5%) than torpedo anchors, and the effect becomes more significant with increasing impact velocity. An extensive parametric study is carried out by varying the impact velocity, strain rate and strain-softening parameters, frictional coefficient, and soil undrained shear strength. It is concluded that the dominant factor affecting the penetration is the soil undrained shear strength, then are the impact velocity, strain rate dependency and frictional coefficient, and the minimal is the strain-softening of soil. In addition, although the strain rate dependency is partly compensated by the softening, the anchor embedment depth accounting for the effects of strain rate and strain-softening is lower than that for ideal Tresca soil. Strain rate dependency dominates the combined effects of strain rate and strain-softening in the dynamic installation of GIAs, on which should pay more attention, especially for the calibration of the related parameters and the measured solutions. In the end, the theoretical model based on the bearing resistance method is extended by accounting for the hydrodynamic drag effect.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a combined Monte Carlo simulation and three-dimensional (3D) dynamic large deformation finite element (LDFE) analysis using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian method was used to investigate the whole runout process of landslide induced by the earthquake in spatially varying soil.
Abstract: Landslide is a uniquely dynamic large-deformation process that can present serious threat to human lives and infrastructures. The natural soil properties often exhibit inherent spatial variability, which affects the landslide behavior significantly. This paper focuses on combined Monte Carlo simulation and three-dimensional (3D) dynamic large-deformation finite-element (LDFE) analysis using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian method to investigate the whole runout process of landslide induced by the earthquake in spatially varying soil. The results from LDFE analysis show that the mean value of runout distance in spatially varying soil is significantly higher than that of the deterministic value obtained from a homogeneous slope due to the slope failure developed along the weakest path in soils. The mean runout distance increases and converges with increasing slope length in 3D-LDFE stochastic analysis. The advantages and necessities of 3D-LDFE analysis were illustrated by comparing it with two-dimensional (2D) LDFE analysis of landslide in spatially varying soil. The results show that the calculated mean runout distance using 3D-LDFE method is at least 16.1% higher than that calculated using 2D-LDFE analysis. Finally, a linear regression formula was established to estimate the mean runout distance of landslide due to horizontal inertia acceleration. Such a formula may facilitate the risk assessment of landslide in practical engineering.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the results of a numerical investigation into the undrained vertical bearing capacity of rough ring foundations resting on two-layered clays of both homogeneous and linearly increasing shear strength profiles.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation into the undrained vertical bearing capacity of rough ring foundations resting on two-layered clays of both homogeneous and linearly increasing shear strength profiles. Small displacement finite element predictions are compared with the available empirical, analytical and numerical solutions, and expressed in the familiar form of bearing capacity factors reflecting the coupling effects of the dimensionless parameters related to foundation internal opening, relative top layer thickness, strength difference between two layers, and strength non-homogeneity. The depth beyond which the shear strength of the bottom layer does not affect the bearing capacity, defined here as critical depth ratio, is identified. The failure mechanisms of ring foundations are also discussed in terms of the displacement pattern.
34 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, a new generation of penetrometers, which have a much greater projected area than the cone shaft, and introduces a version of the strain path method based on classical upper bound solutions for the penetrationrometers.
Abstract: The problem of penetration resistance involves a continuously moving zone of plastic distortion in the soil medium. This has been explored for cone penetration and pile installation, where additional volume is intruded into the soil, using the strain path method with the flow field derived from classical fluid mechanics. This paper focuses on a new generation of penetrometers, which have a much greater projected area than the cone shaft, and introduces a version of the strain path method based on classical upper bound solutions for the penetrometers. The new approach is used to explore the effects of high strain rates, and gradual strength degradation, on the penetration resistance of cylindrical and spherical penetrometers. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
349 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) approach has been developed to overcome the difficulties with regard to finite element method and large deformation analyses.
Abstract: Geotechnical boundary value problems involving large deformations are often difficult to solve using the classical finite element method. Large mesh distortions and contact problems can occur due to the large deformations such that a convergent solution cannot be achieved. Since Abaqus, Version 6.8, a new Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach has been developed to overcome the difficulties with regard to finite element method and large deformation analyses. This new method is investigated regarding its capabilities. First, a benchmark test, a strip footing problem is investigated and compared to analytical solutions and results of comparable finite element analyses. This benchmark test shows that CEL is well suited to deal with problems which cannot be fully solved using FEM. In further applications the CEL approach is applied to more complex geotechnical boundary value problems. First, the installation of a pile into subsoil is simulated. The pile is jacked into the ground and the results received from these analyses are compared to results of classical finite element simulations. A second case study is the simulation of a ship running aground at an embankment. The results of the CEL simulation are compared to in situ measurement data. Finally, the capabilities of the new CEL approach are evaluated regarding its robustness and efficiency.
296 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of penetration rate on the penetration resistance in soft clay for various shaped penetrometers (cone, T-bar, ball, and plate) and for T-bars with different aspect ratios were discussed.
Abstract: This paper discusses the effects of penetration rate on the penetration resistance in soft clay for various shaped penetrometers (cone, T-bar, ball, and plate) and for T-bars with different aspect ratios. Constant rate (“normal”) and variable rate (“twitch”) penetration tests, where the penetration rate was successively halved over eight steps with the penetrometer advanced by one or two diameters in each step, were undertaken in the beam centrifuge at the University of Western Australia. The tests were conducted on samples reconstituted from clay collected from the Burswood site in Western Australia. The twitch tests showed higher penetration resistance than the corresponding normal tests after the penetration rate had been reduced by a factor of 16 due to cumulative effects of partial consolidation. The penetration rate at which the resistance started to increase due to partial consolidation was used to estimate the consolidation coefficient, cv , of the reconstituted clay. The interpreted cv values wer...
184 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the rate dependence of T-bar and ball penetrometer resistances in kaolin was investigated using the results from a centrifuge investigation, and the results showed that the soil viscosity is a significant influence on the penetration resistances of Tbar and Ball diameters.
Abstract: This paper describes the results from a centrifuge investigation into the rate dependence of T-bar and ball penetrometer resistance in kaolin. Four T-bar diameters and two ball diameters were installed in kaolin with overconsolidation ratios of 1, 2 and 5 at penetration velocities varying over five orders of magnitude. The penetration resistances are compared with the properties of kaolin as measured in element tests to assist in the development of a framework that describes this resistance over the full velocity range. Consistent trends emerge when the soil viscosity is assumed to affect the penetration resistance in both the partially drained and undrained conditions, enabling the dependence of the T-bar and ball resistances on diameter, velocity and soil characteristics to be quantified.
175 citations