Numerical Investigation of Bearing Capacity of Spudcan on Sand overlying Clay

摘要

A possible punch-through failure usually exists for a spudcanrnfoundation to be installed on sand layer overlaid clay soils. In thernSouthwest Sea of Korea, the critical soil profile of sand-overlaid-clayrnstrata are met at the target zone planned for the installation of a Jack-uprntype WTIV (Wind turbine installation vessel). To reduce the potentialrnrisk, an appropriate spudcan is required. In this paper numericalrninvestigation, using ALE technique in conjunction with the explicitrnsolution scheme (ABAQUS 2013), is performed to provide a referencernfor the spudcan design.The effects of spudcan geometric characteristicsrnon the failure mechanism and bearing capacity of spudcan foundationrnare analyzed. The sand plug, formed in the punch-through processrndirectly underneath the spudcan and moved together with the spudcanrninto the underlying clay soils, is depicted and taken into account in therncalculation of penetration resistance.