Numerical Methods in Offshore Geotechnics: Applications to Submarine Landslides and Anchor Plates

Abstract

The emphasis of this dissertation is on using numerical and plasticity based methods to study two main areas of offshore geotechnics.

The first part of this dissertation focuses on the undrained behavior of deeply embedded anchor plates under combined shear and torsion. Plate anchors are increasingly being used instead of typical foundation systems to anchor offshore floating platforms to sustain uplift operating forces. However extreme loading cases would create general loading conditions involving six degrees of freedom. The focus of my research was to evaluate the bearing capacity of plate anchors under two-way horizontal and torsional loading and to study the decreasing effect of torsional moment on the horizontal bearing capacity of these foundations. The study takes advantage of several approaches:

Numerical simulation (two and three dimensional finite element analysis) Evaluating and modification of the available plasticity solutions Developing equations for three degree-of-freedom yield locus surfaces

The same methodology is applied to evaluate the response of shallow foundations for subsea infrastructure subjected to significant eccentric horizontal loads.

The second part of this study focuses on offshore geohazards. Coastal communities and the offshore industry can be impacted directly by geohazards, such as submarine slope failures, or by tsunamis generated by the failed mass movements. This study aims at evaluating the triggering mechanisms of submarine landslide under cyclic wave and earthquake loading. A simple effective stress elasto-plastic model with a minimal number of parameters accounting for monotonic and cyclic response of fine-grained material is developed. The new constitutive soil model could be used to simulate case histories and conduct parametric study to evaluate the effect of slope inclination angle, the earthquake loading with different PGA, frequency content, and duration, as well as various deposition rates to simulate different over pressure levels. This study will generate more insight on the static and cyclic behavior of submarine slopes and influencing factors on their triggering mechanisms using more comprehensive and realistic modeling tools. Several objectives are defined: Developing an appropriate constitutive formulation, Evaluating the constitutive model and material parameters for available databases.