Field Installation and Pullout Test of Embedded Suction Anchors

Abstract

The field installation and pullout tests of an embedded suction anchor were conducted inside the Okpo Harbor located along the southeastern coast of South Korea in 2003. The embedded suction anchor was made of steel with an outside diameter of 1.91 m, length of 2.5 m, and thickness of 3 cm. It was installed by a 9.25-m-long suction pile attached at the top of the anchor. During installation of the embedded suction anchor and retrieval of the suction pile, the water pressure inside the suction pile versus the pile embedded length relationship was carefully measured. In addition, during the embedded suction anchor pullout test, the load versus anchor vertical displacement relationship was measured. The measured pullout capacity was then compared with the analytical prediction. The analytical solution was selected from various available solutions of deeply embedded plate anchors available from the literature through detailed comparisons with the results from geotechnical centrifuge model tests on embedded suction anchors. Comparison indicated that the predicted embedded suction anchor resistance matched reasonably well with the field test result.