An Inverse Numerical Technique to Estimate the Undrained Shear Strength of Marine Clays in Deep Waters

The study of alternative techniques to characterize the geomechanical properties of marine clays in deep waters has been the objective of numerous studies. Such research is warranted because of the difficulty in the use of traditional inspection methods under those environmental conditions. This paper presents an inverse numerical technique to evaluate the undrained soil shear strength of the marine soil. This technique is based on the response measurement during penetration in the marine soil by a gravity released pile. By inverse here we mean that the algorithm developed uses the experimental data to fit the parameters of the differential equation of motion of the pile during the penetration, using the least square method. In this procedure the parameters are associated to the undrained shear strength of the marine clay and to the drag coefficient of the pile. Examples are shown to illustrate the feasibility of the method when compared to other conventional tests.