OFFSHORE PILE DESIGN

Prepared by:sitti_a@smg

STANDARD PRACTICE: API- RP2A-WSD-1993 AND API -RP2A-WSD-2007(GEO)

PILE DESIGN

carry static, cyclic and transient loads

without excessive deformations or
vibrations in the platform.
The design of axially-loaded piles
always requires static calculation of
the ultimate pile capacity to ensures
the penetration of the piles into the
soil is sufficient to withstand the
maximum design loads with adequate
safety factors applied.

STANDARD PRACTICE: API- RP2A-WSD-1993 AND API -RP2A-WSD-2007(GEO)

DESIGN CONSIDERATION
Provide site-specific information on foundation soil characteristics along the
pile installation depth.
The soil characteristic includes:
> Type of soil
> soil mechanics properties (angle of internal friction, cohesion,strength, void
ratio, water content, shear strength, etc.).

Provide pile shaft friction and bearing strengths (ultimate pile capacity)
Provide T-Z (axial pile shear transition vs. local pile deflection)
Provide Q-Z ( End bearing resistance displacement )
provide P-Y (horizontal pile pressure vs. soil deformation)
Source: Chakrabarti S.B. (2005). Handbook Of Offshore Engineering. Netherlands: Elsevier Ltd.

3
PILE CAPACITY FOR AXIAL BEARING LOADS

Ultimate Bearing Capacity:

STANDARD PRACTICE: API- RP2A-WSD-1993 AND API -RP2A-WSD-2007(GEO)

SKIN FRICTION AND END BEARING IN

COHESIVE SOILS

Pipe piles in cohesive soils.

For factor, :

*For underconsolidated clays, can usually be taken as 1.0.

For effective overburden pressure, Po:

> 1st depth:

> 2nd depth and forth:

For piles end bearing in cohesive soils, the unit end bearing, q, in lbs/ft2
(kPa), can be calculated as follows:

For area:
> Side surface area,As :

> Gross end area of pile, Ap

`

7
SKIN FRICTION AND END BEARING IN
COHESIONLESS SOILS

unit shaft friction at a given depth, f,

values for open-ended pipe piles that are driven unplugged can be obtained by referring to
Table 6.4.3-1:

For unit end bearing, q, in lbs/ft2 (kPa), can be calculated as follows:

Refer Table 6.4.3-1 for Nq values

For plugged piles, the unit end bearing q acts over the entire cross
section of the pile. For unplugged piles, q acts on the pile annulus only.

For API- RP2A-WSD-1993

Shaft / Skin friction

K is assumed to be 0.8 for open-ended pipe piles driven unplugged (tension

and compression)
K is assumed to be 1.0 for full displacement piles (plugged/closed end).

10

Refer Table 2 for and Nq values :

11

PLUGGED/UNPLUGGED CONDITION

For piles considered to be unplugged:

Total skin friction =

total internal skin friction + total external skin.

End bearing =
end bearing on pile wall annulus.

12

PLUGGED/UNPLUGGED CONDITION

For piles considered to be plugged:

Total skin friction = total outer skin friction

End bearing =
unit end bearing * total cross sectional area.

13

EXAMPLE
Given:

Steps:
1. Calculate effective overburden pressure, Po
2. Find skin friction, f
3. Unit end bearing, q
4. Side surface area of pile, As
5. Gross end area of pile, Ap
6. Skin friction resistance, Qf
7. Total end bearing, Qp
8. Check for plugged/unplugged [Qf(internal) > Check Qp (whole)]
9. Calculate Q.
10. Plot graph, depth vs Q.

14

EXAMPLE

Answer:

15

EXAMPLE

Plot graph depth versus ultimate pile

capacity

16

3D CORRECTION

Why 3d?
> End bearing value of pile is
influenced by the type and
strength of soil in
the influence zone.
> influence zone : 3 times the
diameter below pile tip.
> If strong / weaker layer exists
within the influence zone, ultimate
capacity plot needs to be
corrected.

17

3D CORRECTION

3 cases:

Case 1:
relatively strong soil stratum
having thickness more than
3D

Before corrected

After corrected

18

3D CORRECTION
Case 2:
a thin, relatively strong soil
stratum having thickness
less than 3D

Before corrected

After corrected

19

3D CORRECTION
Case 3:
a relatively weak soil
stratum

Before corrected

After corrected

20

3D CORRECTION

Before 3D correction

After 3D correction

21

SCOUR

Seabed erosion due to wave and

current action (scour) can occur
around offshore pile.
Affects both lateral and axial pile
performance and capacity.
Two types:
> General/global scour : affects the
area of the piles, usually twice the area
that is covered by the platform.
> Local scour: occurs around specific
areas of the piles.

22

SCOUR

Occurs if the water velocity is high enough to lift and carry the seabed sediments in
suspension from the area.

In design, it is assumed that local scour is 1.5 times the leg diameter, and depth of
global scour is assumed to be 1m [Source: El-Reedy, M.A. (2012). Offshore Structures Design,
Construction And Maintenance. Elsevier, Inc: UK]

Steps:
1.0 Determine the local scour depth (Usually given).
2.0 Determine the depth 2 times Diameter of pile below the local depth of scour.
3.0 Interpolate the effective overburden pressure for the depth from local scour depth to of 2D+local scour
depth.

23

AXIAL PILE DEFORMATION

Axial resistance of the soil is provided by a combination of axial-load pile skin

friction/load transfer along the sides of the pile and end bearing at the pile tip.

Axial support of a pile is obtain from the surrounding soil, and the axial pile
deformation at the end of pile depth consist of four components:
> elastic pile deformation
> elastic soil deformation
> plastic soil deformation
> plastic soil-pile slip deformation

The purpose of t-z: To model the latter three components

Q-z curves is to model elastic and and plastic soil deformation around the pile tip.
Prediction of vertical side shear of laterally loaded shaft cannot be predicted
UNLESS, relationship between vertical shaft displacement and associated shear
resistance is develop.

24

T-z CURVE

Used to represent the resistance

along the shaft
develop a relationship between
mobilized soil-pile shear transfer
and local pile deflection at any
depth.
Steps:
1. Find z from z/D where D is the
diameter.
2. Find t:
= t/tmax x skin friction.

[Source: API-RP2A-WSD-2007 (Page:

66)]

25

T-z CURVE

Shaded region:
residual adhesion ratio,
range between 0.7-0.90

26

Q-z CURVE

Introduced to model the end bearing

develop the relationship between
mobilized end-bearing resistance and
axial tip deflection
It needs relatively large pile tip
movements are required to mobilize
the full end bearing resistance.
A pile tip displacement up to 10
percent of the pile diameter may be
required for full mobilization in both
sand and clay soils

27

Q-Z CURVE

28

P-y CURVE

Develop for soil reaction for laterally

loaded piles.
Under lateral loading, clay soils
behave as a plastic material which
makes it necessary to relate pile-soil
deformation to soil resistance.
To ease this procedure, lateral soil
resistance deflection (p-y) curves
should be constructed using stressstrain data from laboratory soil
samples.( where P is the y-axis, and y
is the x axis.)

THANK YOU

Prepared by: sitti.a_smg