Experimental and numerical investigations of eccentric uplift capacity of mat foundation on marine clay seabed

Abstract

The mat foundation is a new type of jack-up wind power installation platform suitable for clay seabed. Because of the large size of the mat foundation, a large suction force must be overcome during the uplift process. In this study, the eccentric uplift of a mat foundation was experimentally and numerically investigated. The effects of the eccentric distance, eccentric position, and foundation shape on the suction force of the mat foundation were discussed. The results revealed that the breakout force of the mat foundation mainly comprised the foundation weight and suction force. Both the uplift position and eccentric distance affected the suction force; however, the effect of the uplift position was considerably smaller than that of the eccentric distance. The dimensionless suction force for the eccentric uplift tended to decrease linearly as the eccentric distance increased. When the dimensionless eccentric distance was 0.5, the suction force was 0.35–0.5 times that in the case of central uplift.