Experimental Observations on a Suction Bucket Foundation Under Vertical Pullout Loading

Abstract

© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.The government of South Korea is currently implementing the national plan of developing offshore wind energy in the southwestern sea of the Korean peninsula. The aim is to decrease the nations consumption of carbon emission technologies and increase renewable energy consumption. A tripod bucket foundation has been identified as a feasible foundation to support offshore wind turbine structures. This type of foundation is subject to failure by moment, horizontal, and pullout loadings due to the impact of wind and wave loads. The pullout of one bucket determines the stability of the entire tripod system, and should be investigated to fully satisfy the applicability of the tripod bucket foundation in the ongoing campaign. Therefore, a series of 1-g experimental tests were conducted on the model suction bucket to evaluate the pullout capacity under drained and undrained conditions. Soil deformations outside the bucket, soil heave, and suction force inside the bucket are discussed. A simple approach is proposed to guide the pullout capacity evaluation under drained and undrained conditions.