Measured spudcan fixity: analysis of instrumentation data from three North Sea jack-up units and correlation to site assessment procedures

Identification of jack-up spudcan fixity by an output-only substructural strategy

“…A field exercise of monitoring the dynamic behaviours and environmental conditions of three jack-up units (Monitor, Galaxy I and Magellan) was commissioned by GobalSantaFe (GSF) in the early 1990s [1,3,7]. This programme was continued with the Magellan at the Franklin and Elgin sites in the harsh North Sea [8,9].…”

“…Karunakaran et al [5] conducted an analysis of full-scale measurements from a large deepwater jack-up platform operating in the North Sea, which was the first large jack-up platform installed with skirted spudcan foundation [6]. Three jack-up drilling units in harsh environment, namely, Monitor, Galaxy I and Magellan operating in the North Sea, were monitored by permanently installed instruments [3,7,8]. Using the case records from the three jack-up units at a total of eight locations, Cassidy et al [1] determined the appropriate stiffness levels for spudcan foundations by using a trial and error method to adjust the numerical values until there was a good correlation with the measured results in both the frequency domain and the magnitude of response.…”