Behavior of Installation for Suction Anchor in Soft Clay Available to Purchase

Suction anchor foundations are being increasingly used for a variety of offshore application. In designing a suction anchor geotechnical engineering must consider the installation process as well as the in-place performance. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the penetration behavior of the suction anchor in normally consolidated and sensitive clay. Numerical analyses are preformed to study the installation by suction in soft clay. The effects of the penetration depth, the shear strength ratio along the interface between the anchor and the clay on the installation process on the failure mechanism and the pattern of soil flow at the anchor tip during installation are discussed in detail. The shear strength reduction factor is the key factor of the installation procedure, and it has a strong effect on the limited installable aspect ratio. The displacement vectors show that the clay beneath the anchor tip will move up inside the anchor when the anchor moves down while soils beneath the tip as well as soils outside the skirt wall also flow inward at the reverse bearing capacity failure. Finally, some conclusions are made, which can be useful in practice.