An Innovative underwater foundation system utilizing suction piles was introduced in the offshore industry recently. Since then, suction piles have been successfully used in numerous occasions on a variety of offshore structures. Suction piles have advantages over conventional underwater foundation systems due to their simplicity and efficiency. More obvious advantages of suction piles are easy installation, large bearing capacity, and retrievability.
The retrieval of suction piles is achieved through careful application of increased water pressure inside the pile. The applied water pressure must be determined carefully so that the suction pile can be retrieved safely. The main objective of this study is to identify the relationship between the applied positive water pressure inside the pile and the resulting pile pull-out movement through full-scale field tests. These experiments will provide an invaluable insight for the future development of an analytical solution for safe suction pile retrieval.
The field retrieval and instrumentation will be designed and supervised by the principal investigator and performed by the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center with three suction piles that were successfully installed by the principal investigator in 1999. Significant matching contribution commitment has already been made by the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center as evidence of their interests and emphasis on the expanded use of suction piles.
