Calculation of Hydro-Dynamic Stability of the Soil Inside Bucket in the Process of Bucket Foundation Penetration

摘要

—The offshore platform with bucket foundations is a new type of offshore platform that distin-guishes from traditional template platforms by replacing driven piles with bucket foundations.The suctionpenentration of bucket foundation is a complicated hydro-dynamic process.The key of this process is theseepage field caused by the difference of pressure applied on purpose inside and outside the bucket.The ap-pearance and developement of seepage field has a decisive influence on the suction penetration process.Inthis study,the finite element analysis method is applied to the dynamic simulation of the seepage field ofsuction penetration of bucket foundation.A criterion is suggested to distinguish the hydro-dynamic stabili-ty of the soil inside the bucket according to the critical hydraulic gradient method.The reliability of themodel and its applicability to engineering practice have been proved through comparison between the re-sults of model test and finite element calculation.