Eulerian finite element simulation of spudcan-pile interaction

Jack-up rigs are commonly employed to perform offshore oil and gas drilling. During the installation of the spudcan foundation, the large volume of soil displaced may induce severe stresses on the piles supporting the adjacent platform. The increasing numbers of jack-up rigs being deployed at close proximity to piled platforms accentuates the need for research into quantifying the effect of spudcan penetration on adjacent piles. The main difficulty with the numerical simulation of spudcan-pile interaction lies in the need to model continuous spudcan penetration in a three-dimensional (3-D) modeling space. In this paper, the three-dimensional Eulerian numerical technique is adopted to perform a coupled interaction analysis whereby the process of continuous spudcan penetration is simulated and the corresponding pile responses are obtained. The salient features of the proposed numerical approach with particular emphasis on the incorporation of a pile in the numerical model are first described. The validation of the numerical model against centrifuge experimental data under different geometric configurations and soil profiles are then presented. The final part of this paper demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed numerical approach through a series of parametric studies. This numerical approach can be readily applied to perform site-specific assessment to mitigate the risks associated with spudcan-pile interaction.