Spud-can penetration depending on soil properties: Comparison between numerical simulation and physical model test

Abstract

Spud-can is used for fixing jack-up rig on seabed. It needs to be inserted up to the required depth during the installation process to secure enough soil reaction and prevent overturning accidents. On the other hand, it should be extracted from seabed soils as fast as possible during the extraction process to minimize the corresponding operational cost. To achieve such goals, spud-can may be equipped with water-jetting system including monitoring and control. To develop such a smart spud-can, a reliable numerical simulation tool is essential and it has also to be validated against physical model tests. In this regard, authors developed a numerical simulation tool by using a commercial program ANSYS with extended Drucker-Prager (EDP) formula. Authors also conducted small-scale (1/100) physical model tests for verification and calibration purpose. By using the numerical model, a systematic parametric study is conducted both for sand and K(kaolin)-clay with varying important soil parameters and the best estimated soil properties of the physical test are deduced. Then, by using the selected soil properties, the numerical and experimental results for a sand/K-clay multi-layer case are cross-checked to show reasonably good agreement. The validated numerical model will be useful in the next-stage study which includes controllable water-jetting.