• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.617-633
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• 2016

A numerical study has been conducted to examine the improvement achieved in the ultimate pullout capacity of horizontal circular anchor plates embedded in undrained clay, by constructing granular columns of varying diameter over the anchor plates. The analysis has been carried out by using lower bound theorem of limit analysis and finite elements in combination with linear programming. The improvement in uplifting capacity of anchor plate is expressed in terms of an efficiency factor (${\xi}$). The efficiency factor (${\xi}$) has been defined as the ratio of ultimate vertical pullout capacity of anchor plate having diameter D embedded in soft clay reinforced by granular column to the vertical pullout capacity of the anchor plate with same diameter D embedded in soft clay only. The variation of efficiency factor (${\xi}$) for different embedment ratios and different diameter of granular column has been studied considering a wide range of softness of clay and different value of soil internal friction angle (${\phi}$) of the granular material. It is observed that ${\xi}$ increases with an increase in diameter of the granular column ($D_t$) and increase in friction angle of granular material. Also, the effectiveness of the usage of granular column increases with decrease in cohesion of the clay.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.825-844
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• 2017

This study aimed to find out the pullout capacity of inclined strip anchor plate embedded in anisotropic and nonhomogeneous fully saturated cohesive soil in undrained condition. The ultimate pullout load has been found out by using numerical lower bound finite element analysis with linear programming. The undrained pullout capacity of anchor plate of width B is determined for different embedment ratios (H/B) varying from 3 to 7 and various inclination of anchor plates ranging from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ with an interval of $15^{\circ}$. In case of anisotropic fully saturated clay the variation of cohesion with direction has been considered by varying the ratio of the cohesion along vertical direction ($c_v$) to the cohesion along horizontal direction ($c_h$). In case of nonhomogeneous clay the cohesion of the undrained clay has been considered to be increased with depth below ground surface keeping $c_v/c_h=1$. The results are presented in terms of pullout capacity factor ($F_{c0}=p_u/c_H$) where $p_u$ is the ultimate pullout stress along the anchor plate at failure and $c_H$ is the cohesion in horizontal direction at the level of the middle point of the anchor plate. It is observed that the pullout capacity factor increases with an increase in anisotropic cohesion ratio ($c_v/c_h$) whereas the pullout capacity factor decreases with an increase in undrained cohesion of the soil with depth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.964-968
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• 2010

Ground anchor, commonly referred to as tiebacks or tie-down, is essentially steel elements secured in the ground by cement grout. They are used to provide either lateral or vertical support for various engineered structures, and are effective in all types of soil and rock. However, ground anchor can not be used in soft clay because anchor resistance would not be guaranteed. In this paper, conceptual introduction of the Smart Anchor is presented. The Smart Anchor is a kind of friction type anchor, the load is diffused and applied to the various parts of the distributed bond length, having less impact on the grout strength, and being able to secure necessary anchoring force in relatively soft grounds. This study shows a numerical study of predicting the load transfer of The Smart Anchor in soft clay. A beam-column analysis was performed by a elastic-plastic P-y curves in soft clay.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.539-549
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• 2022

Accidental anchor drop can cause disturbances to seabed materials and pose significant threats to the safety and serviceability of submarine structures such as pipelines. In this study, a series of anchor drop tests was carried out to investigate the penetration mechanism of a Hall anchor in sand and clay. A special anchor drop apparatus was designed to model the inflight drop of a Hall anchor. Results indicate that Coriolis acceleration was the primary cause of large horizontal offsets in sand, and earth gravity had negligible impact on the lateral movement of dropped anchors. The indued final horizontal offset was shown to increase with the elevated drop height of an anchor, and the existence of water can slow down the landing velocity of an anchor. It is also observed that water conditions had a significant effect on the influence zone caused by anchors. The vertical influence depth was over 5 m, and the influence radius was more than 3 m if the anchor had a drop height of 25 m in dry sand. In comparison, the vertical influence depth and radius reduced to less than 3 m and 2 m, respectively, when the anchor was released from 10 m height and fell into the seabed with a water depth of 15 m. It is also found that the dynamically penetrating anchors could significantly influence the earth pressure in clay. There is a non-linear increase in the measured penetration depth with kinematic energy, and the resulted maximum earth pressure increased dramatically with an increase in kinematic energy. Results from centrifuge model tests in this study provide useful insights into the penetration mechanism of a dropped anchor, which provides valuable data for design and planning of future submarine structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.615-630
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• 2015

The use of helical anchors has been extensively beyond their traditional use in the electrical power industry in recent years. They are commonly used in more traditional civil engineering infrastructure applications so that the advantages of rapid installation and immediate loading capability. The majority of the research has been directed toward the tensile uplift behaviour of single anchors (only one plate) by far. However, anchors commonly have more than one plate. Moreover, no thorough numerical and experimental analyses have been performed to determine the ultimate pullout loads of multi-plate anchors. The understanding of behavior of these anchors is unsatisfactory and the existing design methods have shown to be largely inappropriate and inadequate for a framework adopted by engineers. So, a better understanding of helical anchor behavior will lead to increased confidence in design, a wider acceptance as a foundation alternative, and more economic and safer designs. The main aim of this research is to use numerical modeling techniques to better understand multi-plate helical anchor foundation behavior in soft clay soils. Experimental and numerical investigations into the uplift capacity of helical anchor in soft clay have been conducted in this study. A total of 6 laboratory tests were carried out using helical anchor plate with a diameter of 0.05 m. The results of physical and computational studies investigating the uplift response of helical anchors in soft clay show that maximum resistances depend on anchor embedment ratio and anchor spacing ratio S/D. Agreement between uplift capacities from laboratory tests and finite element modelling using PLAXIS is excellent for anchors up to embedment ratios of 6.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.79-95
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• 2013

Suction anchors are widely adopted in mooring systems. However there are still challenges in predicting the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of the anchor. Previously published methods for predicting the inclined pullout capacity of suction anchors are mainly based on experimental data or the FEM analysis. In the present work, an analytical method that is capable of predicting the failure mode and ultimate pullout capacity of the suction anchor in clay under inclined loading is developed. This method is based on a rational mechanical model for suction anchors and the knowledge of the mechanism that the anchor fails in seabed soils. In order to examine the analytical model, the failure angle and pullout capacity of suction anchors from FEM simulation, numerical solution and laboratory tests in uniform and linear cohesive soils are employed to compare with the theoretical predictions and the agreement is satisfactory. An analytical method that can evaluate the optimal position of the attachment point is also proposed in the present study. The present work proves that the failure mode and pullout capacity of suction anchors can be reasonably determined by the developed analytical method.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.63-72
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• 1996

Plate anchors are often used for various types of offshore construction and maintenance works. When the plates are embedded in soft clay and subjected to sustanined allowable loads, creep may develop. This paper presents some results from laboratory model test designed to study the creep effect that develops with time for a shallow circular anchor subjected to sustained net loads that are less than the net ultimate uplift capacity. Based on the model test results, relationships among the net load, the rate of strain, and time are developed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.219-224
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• 2009

In this study, the characteristics of pullout behavior of Pressurized light-weight steel Anchor was investigated through centrifuge model tests considering pull-out angle $0^{\circ}$ with changing undrained shearstrength(0~1, 2~4, 5~7kPa) of clay. According to the results of tests, the yield pullout load of clay ground was gradually increased up to 30% as undrained shear strength was increased. Therefore, it was known that the yield pullout load was affected by increasing the undrained shear strength, in addition, the pattern of behavior was not changed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1014-1021
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• 2008

Ground anchor should not be used in soft clay, because anchor resistance can not be guaranteed. However, there is a way to increase the capacity of anchors. The pulse powered anchor is an underreamed anchor by using high voltage electrokinetic pulse energy. In this paper, conceptual introduction of the pulse powered anchor was presented. Anchor pull-out tests were performed at the Geotechnical Experimentation Site at Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, Korea. Data were analyzed in order to verify the performance of pulse powered anchors.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.165-181
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• 2014

In the past decade, different types of underreamed ground anchors have been developed for substructures requiring uplift resistance. This article introduces a new type of umbrella-shaped anchor. The uplift behavior of this ground anchor in clay is studied through a series of laboratory and field uplift tests. The test results show that the umbrella-shaped anchor has higher uplift capacity than conventional anchors. The failure mode of the umbrella-shaped anchor in a large embedment depth can be characterized by an arc failure surface and the dimension of the plastic zone depends on the anchor diameter. The anchor diameter and embedment depth have significant influence on the uplift behavior. A finite element model is established to simulate the pullout of the ground anchor. A parametric study using this model is conducted to study the effects of the elastic modulus, cohesion, and friction angle of soils on the load-displacement relationship of the ground anchor. It is found that the larger the elastic modulus and the shear strength parameters, the higher the uplift capacity of the ground anchor. It is suggested that in engineering design, the soil with stiffer modulus and higher shear strength should be selected as the bearing stratum of this type of anchor.