LESSON 3: LOAD CAPACITY OF A SUCTION PILE

LESSON 3: LOAD CAPACITY OF A SUCTION PILE

In this lesson a suction pile in an off-shore foundation will be considered. A suction pile is
a hollow steel pile with a large diameter and a closed top, which is installed in the seabed
by pumping water from the inside. The resulting pressure difference between the outside
and the inside is the driving force behind this installation.
In this exercise, the length of the suction pile is 10 m and the diameter is 4.5 m. An
anchor line is attached on the side of the pile, 7 m from the top. To avoid local failure of
the pile, the thickness of the tube where the anchor line acts on the pile is increased. The
soil consists of silty sand. To model undrained behaviour, an undrained stress analysis
with undrained strength parameters will be performed (Section 6.2 of the Reference
Manual). This exercise will investigate the displacement of the suction pile under working
load. Four different angles of the working load will be considered. The installation
process itself will not be modelled. The geometry for the problem is sketched in Figure
4.1.
Objectives:

Importing volumes

Undrained effective stress analysis with undrained strength parameters

Soil cohesion increases with depth

Copying material data sets

Changing settings in Output

Selecting a node after calculation to generate a curve with structural forces

z

z = -6.5 m
z = -7.5 m

z = -7.0 m

z = -10 m
4.5 m

Figure 4.1 Geometry of the suction pile

4.1

GEOMETRY

An area of 60 m wide and 60 m long surrounding the suction pile will be modelled. With
these dimensions the model is sufficiently large to avoid any influence from the model
boundaries.

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Project properties
To define the geometry for this exercise, follow these steps:

Start the Input program and select New project from the Create/Open project dialog
box.

Enter an appropriate title for the exercise.

Keep the standard units and set the model dimensions to xmin = 30 m, xmax = 30
m, ymin = 30 m, ymax = 30 m.

Click OK.

4.1.1

DEFINITION OF SOIL STRATIGRAPHY

In the current example only one horizontal soil layer is present. A single borehole is
sufficient to define it.
Add a borehole to the geometry.

In the Modify soil layers window add a soil layer with top boundary at z = 0 m and
bottom boundary at z = 30 m.

The Head value is 50.0 m, which means 50 m depth above the soil.
Open the Material sets window and create the data sets given in the Table 4.1. In
the Parameters tabsheet deselect the Tension cut-off option in the advanced
parameters for strength.In this exercise, the permeability of the soil will not influence
the results. Instead of using effective strength properties, the cohesion parameter
will be used in this example to model undrained shear strength. Advanced
parameters can be entered after expanding the Advanced data tree in the
Parameters tabsheet.
Hint: The Interface data set can be quickly created by copying the 'Sand' data set
and changing the Rinter value.

Assign the 'Sand' material data set to the soil layer and close the Material sets
window.

4.1.2

DEFINITION OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

The suction pile is modelled in the Structures mode using predefined volumes. To model
a suction pile:
Import the standard cylinder. The standard cylinder is saved in the
<example_cylinder_vertical_D1h1_centered.3ds> file in the Importables folder of the
installation directory of PLAXIS 3D. The imported volume is edited in the Import
structure volumes window. Import solid is a PLAXIS VIP feature.

Modify the scale such that the diameter is 4.5 m and the height is 10 m.

Define the coordinates of the insertion point such that the top of the anchor is at the
sea bottom level (z = 0) and the bottom of the anchor is at z = 10 (Figure 4.2).

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LESSON 3: LOAD CAPACITY OF A SUCTION PILE

Table 4.1 Material properties of the sand layer and its interface
Parameter

Name

Sand

Interface

Unit

Material model

Model

Mohr-Coulomb

Mohr-Coulomb

Type of material behaviour

Type

Undrained B

Undrained B

Soil weight

unsat , sat

20

20

kN/m3

E'
'
su,ref
u

E 'inc
zref
su,inc
zref

1000
0.35
0.1
0.0
0.0
1000
0.0
4.0
0.0

1000
0.35
0.1
0.0
0.0
1000
0.0
4.0
0.0

kN/m2

kN/m2

Rinter

Manual

Rigid

0.7

1.0

K0,x , K0,y

Manual

Manual

0.5

0.5

General

Parameters
Young's modulus
Poisson's ratio
Shear strength
Friction angle
Dilatancy angle
Increase in stiffness
Reference level
Increase in cohesion
Reference level

kN/m2 /m
m
kN/m2 /m
m

Interfaces
Interface strength
Interface strength reduction
Initial

K0 determination
Lateral earth pressure coeff.

Figure 4.2 Import structure volumes window

Hint: As an alternative for the import of a cylinder, the corresponding cylinder

command can be used to create the suction pile. Information about the
commands available in the program is displayed when the Command
reference option is selected in the Help menu.

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Decompose the imported volume into surfaces by right-clicking it and selecting the
Decompose into surfaces option from the appearing menu.

Make the cylinder mantle into a plate, positive interface and negative interface by
right clicking on it and selecting the corresponding options from the appearing menu.

Open the material data base. Select Plates as set type. Create three data sets
according to the information in the Table 4.2.

Table 4.2 Material properties for the suction pile

Parameter

Name

Thin wall

Thick wall

Top

Unit

Thickness

Type

0.05
58.5

0.15
58.5

0.05
68.5

Linear, isotropic

Linear, isotropic

Linear, isotropic

m
kN/m3

Young's
modulus

2.1 108

2.1 108

2.1 108

kN/m2

Poisson's
ratio

0.1

0.1

0.1

Shear
modulus

9.545 107

9.545 107

9.545 107

kN/m2

Weight
Type of
behaviour

Assign Thin wall to the anchor tube and close the Material data set window.

Hide the anchor tube and the original volume object using the Hide option in the
right mouse button menu. Note that the top and the bottom surfaces are visible.
Select the top surface and click on the Create array button in the side tool bar.
Select the 1D, in z direction option for Shape. Keep the number of columns as 2 and
define z as 6.5 for the Distance between columns.

Repeat the previous step to create surfaces at z = 7.0 and z = 7.5.

Make the top surface into a plate. Assign Top material data set to it.

Make the bottom surface (z= -10 m) into a negative interface. Assign the 'Interface'
data set to the bottom interface.

Right click on the surface located at z = 7.0 m and select the Decompose into
outlines option from the appearing menu.

Right click on the point near (2.25; 0.0; -7.0) and select the Create point load option
from the appearing menu. The actual load values will be assigned when the
calculation phases are defined.

The geometry of the project is defined.

4.2

MESH GENERATION

In order to generate the mesh:

The mesh is automatically refined near the plates and load. Select the point load. In
the Selection explorer note that the FinenessFactor value is 0.5 and it is displayed
in a lighter shade of green in the model.
Generate the mesh. Set the element distribution to Coarse.

Proceed to the Staged construction mode.

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4.3

PERFORMING CALCULATIONS

The calculation for this exercise will consist of 6 phases. These are the determination of
initial conditions, the installation of the suction pile and four different load conditions. The
effect of the change of the load direction while keeping the magnitude unchanged will be
analysed.

Click on the Staged construction tab to proceed with the definition of the calculation
phases. Keep the calculation type of the Initial phase to K0 procedure. Ensure that
all the structures and interfaces are switched off.

Add a new calculation phase (Phase_1).

Activate all the plates and interfaces in the project. Assign the Thick wall material to
the plate sections just above and just below the point load. It may be necessary to
hide (NOT deactivate) the negative interface around the anchor. Load is not active.

Add a new phase (Phase_2). Open the Phases window. Select the Reset
displacements to zero option in the Parameters tabsheet. Set the Max steps saved
parameter to 6.

Activate the point load and set Fx = 3897 kN, Fz = 2250 kN.

Define the remaining phases according to the information in Table 4.3. For each
phase check whether the Reset displacements to zero option in the Parameters
tabsheet is selected. Set the Max steps saved parameter to 6.

Calculate the project. The points for curves will be selected after the calculation
process is completed.

Save the project.

Table 4.3 Load information

Phase

Reference phase

Fx

Fz

Phase_2

Phase_1

Phase_3

Phase_1

Phase_4

Phase_1

Phase_5

Phase_1

3897 kN
3447 kN
2893 kN
2250 kN

2250 kN
2893 kN
3447 kN
3897 kN

Hint: The maximum number of saved steps should be increased for the calculation
phases when the curves are to be generated for structural loads. A more
detailed description is given in Section 10.1.3 or Reference Manual.

The order of the phases is indicated in the Phases explorer (Figure 4.3). Calculation of
Phase_1 starts after the calculation of Initial phase is completed. The calculation of the
remaining phases starts after calculation of Initial phase is completed. In multiple core
processors more than one of these phases (Phases 2, 3, 4 and 5) can be calculated
simultaneously.

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Figure 4.3 Phases explorer

4.4

VIEWING THE RESULTS

To view the results:

View the results of the last calculation phase. The deformed mesh of the whole
geometry will be shown. In particular, the displacements of the suction pile itself are
of interest.
Click on the Hide soil button. Keep the <Shift> key pressed and click on the soil to
make the suction pile visible.

Deselect the Interfaces using the Partial geometry option in the Geometry menu.
Click on the Select structures button and select the pile wall. This will select only a
part of the wall. Press <Ctrl + A> to select all the wall elements of the suction pile.

Keeping the <Ctrl> key pressed, double click the pile walls. The results for the wall
of the suction pile are displayed in a new window.
Select the shadings representation and rotate the model such that the xaxis is
perpendicular to the screen.

If the axes are not visible, select this option from the View menu. It is quite clear that
the point force acting on the pile does not disturb the displacement field locally
indicating that the pile is sufficiently thick here.

In the same manner, the total displacements of the suction pile under a different
direction of the load can be inspected by selecting the appropriate phase from
combo box. In particular, <Phase_2> is of interest, as in this phase the horizontal
part of the load will have the largest value (Figure 4.4).

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Figure 4.4 Total displacement of the suction pile at the end of Phase_2

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