Design Consideration for the Bullwinkle Jacket Mudmats

Abstract

The four muclmats wh@h supported the 1353 ft. water depth BullwinMe jacket prior to corner pile installation are unique in size and capability. They were built with 5 ft. deep skirts thus enabling them to: 1) better resist lateral forces, 2) mobilize a greater bearing capacity, 3) provide for an uplift, i.e., suction capacity, and 4) set down "on an uneven seabed. Finally, by injecting nitrogen under the mats they could be used as elevating devices to level the jacket. The design considerations for fabrication, launch, seastate loading, soil behavior, platform dyn"amics and recovery from soil/mudmat failure are presented.

Deepwater Geotechnical Investigations in the Gulf of Mexico

“…However, beeause of the large width of the Bullwinkle platform base, a number of eontinuous penetration CPT (eone penetrometer test) soundings were made to 30 m below the seafloor to investigate the impact of possible lateral soil variability on mudmat design and prepile platform stability [2]. However, beeause of the large width of the Bullwinkle platform base, a number of eontinuous penetration CPT (eone penetrometer test) soundings were made to 30 m below the seafloor to investigate the impact of possible lateral soil variability on mudmat design and prepile platform stability [2].…”