Free
External
Location: McDermott Center, 915 North Eldridge Parkway, Houston, Tx 77079, USA
Speaker: Dr Edward Clukey Ph. D., P.E., F. ASCE, BC GE(ret.), SR. Geotechnical Advisor, GeoMaxEd, LLC
About the event:
Physical model testing is an important part of offshore geotechnical engineering and has been used to verify foundation designs and provide important information for addressing new and challenging problems. Due to the loads and dimensions of many offshore geotechnical problems, it is often not possible to simulate prototype conditions; innovative approaches are then required to develop creative cost-effective solutions. Physical model testing, however, does not exist alone and ideally should be augmented by numerical modeling and field results. Numerical modeling can be calibrated to model tests and then used to perform sensitivity assessments of geotechnical and foundation data. Both types of modeling are complementary and when used appropriately can provide robust solutions to problems.
The presentation presents results from physical model test programs investigating the following offshore geotechnical problems:
- Wave-seafloor interaction,
- Debris flow impact on pipelines,
- Behavior of suction caissons in clays and sands,
- Fatigue issues for conductors and steel catenary risers, and
- The response of steel pile jackets and subsea manifolds/wells to earthquake induced ground motions.
The tests were performed under a variety of testing conditions, including 1g models, centrifuge models, foundation element modelling and fully coupled foundation-structure modelling. Some were small scale tests which did not match similitude scaling conditions while others were able to match many scaling relationships. All tests, however, provided important insights and advancements to the problems they addressed.
