Review of pile driving results for the Maui and Maari developments in the Taranaki basin of New Zealand

摘要

The Taranaki basin is currently New Zealand's only commercial hydrocarbon producing basin and is of significant economic interest to the islands. However, its remoteness demands that offshore construction is carefully planned and engineered to avoid costly change-outs or delays arising from mobilising unsuitable or inefficient equipment. Piling issues such as premature refusal occurred during installation of the Maui A platform which is regarded as NZ frontier offshore project. This paper re-examines the Maui A driving records together with those from the more recent Maui B and Maari developments to help improve our understanding of pile driving behaviour in this region. Different approaches for estimating the soil resistance to driving (SRD) are assessed and compared with back-analysed field data. Recommendations are made for future predictions of SRD and hammer selection based on the accumulated experience at the three sites.