Effects of the Spudcan Penetration on the Adjacent Foundations

Abstract: To study the effects of spudcan penetration on the adjacent foundations of offshore platforms, experiments and numerical simulations (using business software ABAQUS) are carried out. It is shown that the penetration of spudcan can cause the soil layer affected in an annular zone. The affected zone has a maximum width of one times the diameter of the spudcan. The deflection of the platform’s foundation increases with the penetration of spudcan. The smaller the density of soil layer is, the bigger the displacement of the foundation is. However, the maximum displacement at the top of the foun- dation changes little once the penetration depth is over a critical value. The bigger the diameter and the penetration depth of the spudcan are, the bigger the displacements of the foundation are.