• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

In this study, a circular pipe can be installed by suction pressure for construction on soft ground with a low-water level. A series of laboratory-scale model tests were conducted in sandy ground to comprehend the suction pressure of the circular pipe in low-water levels. For repeated tests on saturated sandy soil, a container was mounted with three vibration generators on the floor. A repetitive vibration was applied using the vibration system for ground compaction. In the model tests, different diameters and thicknesses on saturated sandy soil with a water depth were considered. The result showed that the suction pressure increased with increasing penetration depth of the circular pipe. Moreover, the suction pressure required to penetrate the pipe decreased with increasing diameter. In the low-water level, the total suction pressure measured at the top lid increased because additional suction pressure is required to lift the water column. On the other hand, this led to a decrease in suction pressure to penetrate the circular pipe because the weight of the water column is applied as a dead load. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the water level to design the required suction pressure accurately.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2C
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• pp.75-81
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• 2008

In this study, a series of laboratory column test on Suction Drain Method which is one of the way to make an soft ground improvement were conducted in order to investigate the effect of the Hardening Zones and the ratio of improvements depending on periods of the improvements and various applied suction pressures. On this occasion, the experimental conditions are followings; in the case of the periods of effectiveness, 4 days, 8 days, 12 days, 16 days, 20 days and in the case of the applied pressures of the Suction are -20 kPa, -40 kPa, -60 kPa and -80 kPa were carried out. As a result of test, settlement increased with suction pressure and duration increase, and gradually converged. Also, as comparing permeability decrease ratio with which calculated back from water content and numerically predicted using Hansbo's radial consolidation theory, measured value was almost coincide with predicted value when permeability decrease ratio was assumed as 2~3. Furthermore, the hardening zone was appeared within 7~8 cm of whole radial (25 cm).

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.5-19
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• 2020

With increasing demand for offshore structures, the demand for temporary structures to help the offshore construction work has increased. A cofferdam is a temporary barrier to stop the inflow of water in the construction site and allows working in the dry condition when the construction is done within the water. However, it is a major cause of construction delays and increased costs because additional works are required to block the water inflow. Recently, in order to overcome the limitations of the conventional cofferdam methods and to increase economic efficiency, a large-diameter steel cofferdam method has been proposed which can be installed quickly in the seabed by using the suction pressure. In this circular steel cofferdam method, the top side of the cofferdam including the top-lid is always exposed above the sea level in order to use it as a water barrier, unlike the conventional suction bucket foundation. After installation, the top-lid of the cofferdam is removed and the water filled inside the cofferdam is discharged to make the interior dry condition. In this study, the circular steel cofferdam with a 5 m inner diameter was fabricated and the installation tests were conducted at the Saemaguem test site. During the experiment, variation of suction pressure, leakage between connections, structure deformation, and inclination of the steel cofferdam were measured and post-analyzed. This study verified the new circular steel cofferdam method and confirmed that the suction installation method can be successfully used for various purposes on offshore structures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6C
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• pp.321-329
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• 2008

In this study, a series of column test as a way in order to make up for the weakness point of the conventional acceleration method were conducted to both propose the suction board drain method and grapes the specific improvement character of this method as a result of a sort of plastic drain board and a phase of vacuum pressure conditions. On this occasion, the study focused on computing the effective factors of the fittest Suction board drain method affected by each condition through confirming the settlement generated during the test, the water content reduction and stress increase effect occurred arising from the test, and the ratio of consolidation related to the improvement period. In accordance with the shape of core and that whether the core is attached to the filter(pocket or adhesion), the castle type of adhesion and the column type of pocket are more efficient than the others as a consequence of the test to find out the improvement effect depending on each drainage such as a castle type, coil type, harmonica type, column type of pocket and a castle of the adhesion. In case of the step suction pressure, the shorter the period of $-0.8\;kg/cm^2$ as a final step of the suction pressure is, the better the improvement is. In addition, the correlation between degree of consolidation per each suction pressure level and duration of application was drawn as a curve and the point of inflection on this curve was provided to determine the duration period to maximize the consolidation.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.317-325
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• 2019

A suction caisson has been widely used for anchor and foundation of offshore structures due to its broad application, simple installation, and rapid construction. In design of suction caisson foundation, the bearing capacity and the stability of soil are mainly dealt with and analysis methods for them are presented in design codes related to the foundation. On the other hand, the method for structural safety analysis of the suction caisson is not generalized, in particular for load modeling of the caisson under suction. Consequently, there are difficulties in design of the caisson cross section. For this reason, this study analyzed the magnitude and distribution of pore water pressure on inner and outer surface of the caisson using theoretical and numerical seepage analyse, and an approach to reasonably estimate the load applied to the structural analysis of the caisson was presented. Furthermore, effects of penetration depth, anisotropy of permeability, and suction pressure on the pore water pressure were analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.33-44
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• 2014

The preliminary design of suction pile as the supporting system for concrete floating structures was performed for the pilot project of the southwest coast area in Korea. Prior to starting design work, site conditions of the area including ground and hydraulic conditions, and a 100-year return period external force were throughly evaluated. The suction pile for mooring of the offshore floating structures has to satisfy the lateral resistance against external force as well as the penetration ability according to the soil conditions such as soil types, shear strengths, effective stresses, and seepage forces. In the design, the required penetration depths, which were stable for lateral resistance, were evaluated with the diameters of cylindrical suction pile as the final installing ones. And the design suction pressures at each penetrating depths, at which sand boiling did not occur, were assessed through the comparison of penetration and penetrationresistance forces. As a result, it was impossible for suction piles with the diameter range of 3.0~5.0 m to penetrate into required penetration depths. On the other hand, suction piles with the diameter range of 6.0 m and 7.0 m satisfied both the horizontal stability and the penetration ability by design suction pressures at the required penetration depths of 8.5 m and 8.0 m, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.21-31
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• 2018

Bucket foundations are widely used in offshore areas due to their various benefits such as easy and fast installations. A bucket is installed using self-weight and the hydraulic pressure difference across the lid generated by pumping out water from inside the bucket. When buckets are installed in high permeable soil such as sands, upward seepage flow occurs around the bucket tip and interior, leading to a decrease in the effective stress in the soil inside the buckets. This process reduces the penetration resistance of buckets. However, the soil inside and outside the bucket can be disturbed due to the upward seepage flow and this can change the soil properties around the bucket. Moreover, upward seepage flow can create significant soil plug heave, thereby hindering the penetration of the bucket to the target depth. Despite of these problems, soil disturbance and soil plug heave created by suction installation are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the behavior of soil during suction installation. To comprehend the phenomena of soil plug heave during installation, a series of small-scale model tests were conducted with different testing conditions. From a series of tests, the effects of tip thickness of bucket, penetration rate, and self-weight were identified. Finally, soil properties inside the bucket after installation were approximated from the measured soil plug heave.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.35-43
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• 2020

Currently, cofferdams of circular cross section are widely applied as temporary facilities for the installation of bridge foundations in river/sea bridge construction in Korea. Existing caisson, sheet pile, and cell type cofferdam are widely used, but these methods take a lot of time and cost for installation and dismantling. In the case of the existing sheet pile construction method, attention is needed to secure internal and external stability because of the damage to the sheet pile due to ground penetration and difficulty in connecting element members. In this study, penetration design of circular steel pipes using suction pressure was performed on the soft ground of the west coast, and it was confirmed that penetration construction using suction pressure was possible through field tests. It was confirmed that applying the ground analysis results using the cone penetration test (CPT) to the design rather than the standard penetration test (N value) results more similar to the field test results. In addition, it was confirmed that local failure of the inside of the cofferdam was induced when a suction pressure higher than the upper limit suction pressure was applied in the silty sand.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.5-12
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• 2016

Numerical analyses were carried out to simulate tilting control on the suction pile for offshore wind power embedded into cohesive soil and cohesionless soil using finite element software, ABAQUS. A 3-dimensional suction pile was modelled as a wished-in-place pile with $1^{\circ}$ tilted from vertical line. The inner room of suction pile was divided into 3 separate rooms for tilting control, and point load was applied to the center of gravity of a separate room to restore the original position of the suction pile. From numerical analyses, required suction pressure was obtained for desired tilting degree, and the maximum/minimum principle stresses of concrete skirt and the Mises stresses of inner steel wall were collected at original position. It was found that the required suction pressure was about 410 kPa for cohesive soil, and about 1,800 kPa for cohesionless soil.; likewise, obtained stresses were greater for cohesionless soil than cohesive soil.