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Chapter 26 Suction Piles/Caissons 26.1 Introduction A suction pile is a foundation embedded into the sediment at seafloors through either pushing due to the weight of the pile and its associated mass, or creating a negative pressure inside the suction pile. Both of these techniques enable the pile to penetrate into the seabed and to finally reach a desirable penetration depth. Actually, “suction” is a reference to both the negative pressure created within the pile during the installation process, and the passive reduction of pressure mobilized during uplift (1111). Suction piles can be categorized as a slender suction pile if the length to diameter ratio is large, which is mainly used for mooring applications, suction caisson (bucket foundation) if the ratio is close to or less than 1, or suction anchor if it is used as an anchor for structures. The size of suction piles can vary considerably Small diameter suction piles are often used for anchorages, as they can withstand tension and be removed rapidly with a minimum cost. Large-diameter caissons have been manufactured using both concrete and steel. For example, the diameter of the concrete skirt for Gullfaks GBS is 28 m. The thickness to diameter ratio of steel suction piles can range from 0.3 to 0.5%. This ratio increases to 1-2% for concrete suction skirt It should be mentioned that the term “suction pile” is in a sense misleading since most of the suction piles have little similarity to a traditional pile. In many cases, the term is used for short “piles” with a large diameter that is not as slender as a traditional pile. The lengths of some suction piles can be equal to or even less than their diameters, as aforementioned. A suction pile usually comprises a single or multiple cylinders of large diameter and relatively shallow penetration depths (a length to diameter ratio of 2:1 is common), where the volume of soil inside the pile typically acts as a permanent gravity base foundation, as shown in Fig. 26.1. Ring stiffeners and/or longitudinal © Springer Intemational Publishing AG 2018 655 J. dia, Soil Dynamics and Foundation Modeling, hups://doi.org/10,1007/978-3-319-40358-8_26 656 26 Suction Piles/Caissons Fig. 26.1 Suction piles supporting tripod substructures [1112] stiffeners are sometimes welded inside the pile wall. More complex design such as a change in diameter over suction piles’ length can also be employed. The first application of suction pile was reported by Mackereth [1113] in 1958, which was used to install an anchor pile using pumps to create a vacuum inside the pile for holding down a piston corer during lake-bed sampling operations. As will be presented in Sect. 26.5, extensive applications of suction piles in the offshore industry began in the middle of the 1970s. Original research work conducted on marine sit-on-bottom suction foundations was undertaken by Clausen et al. [1114]. Over the years hundreds of suction piles have been successfully installed in a variety of field conditions spanning worldwide applications in soft and strong soils, shallow and deep water, and for various purposes. For a review of the historic development of suction piles, readers may read source [1115]. 26.2 Suction Pile Installations Suction c ilar to gravity-based foundations in shape but differ in the method of installation and primary mode of stability. They can be installed by crane vessel or launched over the stern of an anchor handler tug. During installation, a suction foundation, skirt, hollow cylindrical concrete, or steel walls are lifted to touch the seabed by an installation vessel. An ROV ons are 26.2 Suction Pile Installations 657 (remotely operated vehicle) may be used to minitor the seabed processes, together with depth, tilt, and other instrumentation on and in the suction pile. Due to the self-weight of the suction pile, it will first penetrate into soils to transmit loads to deeper and normally stronger soil strata, as shown in Fig. 26.2. With limited efforts, the suction piles are often submerged with trapped air. When it touches the seabed, the valve on top of the pile will be opened so that air and water trapped inside the pile are free to escape due (o the relative negative pressure inside the suction pile. In addition, the water inside the suction pile is often pumped out to obtain a higher negative pressure (suction). This negative pressure generated during pumping (suction penetration) or escaping of air and water inside the pile is the total pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the pile and is limited by zero absolute pressure (or vacuum) on the inside. This negative pressure also sets up seepage flow that reduces tip resistance and internal friction during penetration. If a site comprises sand or gravel sirata, large suction can degrade skirt tip resis- tance to approximately zero. The outside hydrostatic pressure related to water depth yields an ultimate limit for maximum under pressure available during suction penetration. During this process, it is important to apply sufficient suction to overcome the soil resistance, but the suction should not be so high as to make the soil plug inside the suction pile fluidize or fail, as this can significantly reduce the bearing capacity of the suction pile after installation. This is typically fulfilled by deducting the suction pressure with a factor between 1.3 and 1.7. For offshore applications, the water depth is normally not the limiting factor for the maximum suction penetration depth. Rather, the maximum penetration depth is determined by the aspect (length to diameter) ratio of the pile [1116]. Furthermore, by changing the hydrostatic pressure inside the pile in the horizontal plane, the inclination of the structure due to heterogeneous soil condition or slope at seabed can be controlled. Lift Transport A P +a = _ Touch-down/driving Suction In-place: Operation Extreme me — Say Selon a = — foorcaton Fig. 26.2 Installation of suction piles (courtesy of Aker Solutions)

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