Post-installation pore-pressure changes around spudcan and long-term spudcan behaviour in soft clay

Abstract

This paper presents a dual-stage Eulerian-Lagrangian analysis for modelling the entire process of spudcan installation in soft clay, followed by consolidation and working load operation. The analysis consists of three components, namely undrained effective stress Eulerian analysis of spudcan installation, mesh-to-mesh variable mapping and coupled-flow Lagrangian analysis for the post-installation spudcan working behaviour. The results show good agreement with centrifuge model data but also highlight the importance of replicating the hysteretic behaviour of the soil. The findings also show that while a wished-in-place approach was able to model the long-term bearing response of the spudcan, rotational stiffness was over-estimated. This is due to the fact that, while the wished-in-place analysis was able to model the hardening of the soil ahead of the spudcan, it was unable to model the softening of back-flowed soil behind spudcan. The latter influences the spudcan fixity significantly, but not bearing response. Although the analyses were conducted using ABAQUS, they can, in principle, be conducted using other codes. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.