The analysis of a mooring suction anchor involves both geotechnical and structural engineering. The design starts with the geotechnical analysis of a mooring suction anchor where the design loads are used to determine the size of the mooring suction anchor. Typically, a conservative estimate would be made for the soil strength and analysis would involve several layers of soil with different properties. The mooring suction anchor is then designed using the relevant soil parameters for various limit states under the combined vertical, lateral, torsional, and moment loading. Soil pressures or reactions acting on a rigid steel mooring suction anchor for each limit state are calculated. The calculation results are then provided to structural engineers to perform strength analysis to verify the integrity of the anchor. Therefore, it is important to understand how the soil reactions interact with the suction anchor in the structural model. The current analysis used the soil reaction data developed for an in-place loading condition for a mooring suction anchor. The structure of the mooring suction anchor was modelled using a 3D finite element method. Two studies were performed. The first study performed the regular mapping of the soil pressure to the suction anchor. The second study assumed that all the loads would be applied on the mooring padeye and the bottom of the suction would be fixed. It was presumed that the second study would yield a conservative result. However, the analysis results showed that the second study did not provide a conservative result. Therefore, it is recommended that the care should be taken when making such assumptions in future studies.
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