Effect of Seabed Slope on Offshore Pile Lateral Behaviour Under Wave Force

Fixed offshore platforms supported by pile foundations are required to resist dynamic lateral loading due to wave forces. The response of a jacket offshore tower is affected by the flexibility and nonlinear behavior of the supporting piles. In this study, a typical fixed offshore platform is chosen, and dynamic wave analysis is performed on it. Analysis has been performed for normal environmental conditions and extreme conditions. For the foundation, the deflections and reactions at regular intervals along the vertical direction from the seabed have been found out from the dynamic analysis, and the results have been compared for normal and extreme conditions. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the combined lateral and vertical loads on pile group foundation of a fixed offshore structure and the effects of seabed slope on the pile responses. To provide a more accurate and effective design for offshore pile foundation systems under axial structural loads and lateral wave loads, a finite element model which is modelled in FLAC3D is employed herein to determine the soil structure interaction under similar loading conditions. Three dimensional modelling and the analyses are done using FLAC3D — a finite element package.