Developing a Force-resultant Footing Model for Spudcans in Soft Clays: A Research Strategy

摘要

Foundation-soil interaction is an important aspect of site-specific assessment of jack-up drilling rigs. For jack-up operations in soft clays, deep penetration of the spudcan footings and soil backflow are common. This is generally expected to increase capacity, though to date no complete model has been proposed. Therefore, a detailed investigation of the performance of spudcan foundations in soft clays is necessary. This paper presents a combined numerical and experimental research strategy to investigate the behavior of spudcan footings in soft clays under combined vertical, horizontal and inplane moment loading. The ultimate aim is the development of a force-resultant footing model that can be readily incorporated into a jack-up structural analysis. This will improve jack-up site specific assessment in soft clay locations.