Offshore anchor piles under mooring forces: numerical modeling

Abstract

A parametric study was carried out to study the behavior of offshore anchor piles under mooring forces in dense sand using a three dimensional (3-D) finite element model (FEM). The Mohr–Coulomb plastic model has been used to model the soil, and has been calibrated based on the centrifuge tests discussed in a Ph.D. thesis (published by Ramadan in 2011). The selection of model parameters and comparison of calibrated results with the centrifuge test results are discussed. In the parametric study, different pile lengths and diameters were considered to have different pile–soil rigidities. The pile was loaded at different load inclination angles to examine a wide range of loading conditions. From the current parametric study, design methods and design recommendations are given to help in improving the design of offshore anchor piles under monotonic mooring forces.