Experimental investigation of a model jack-up unit on clay

Abstract

Offshore jack-up units are primarily used in relatively shallow water depths as hydrocarbon exploration units. In recent times, the offshore industry has considered extending their use to deeper waters and for longer durations as production platforms. The severe conditions experienced by these units necessitate a comprehensive understanding of the overall jack-up behaviour, particularly soil-structure interaction and load sharing among the spudcan footings. Previous experimental studies of soil-structure interaction have generally been performed with single spudcan footings This paper presents results from a series of 1-g experiments conducted on a scaled three-legged jack-up unit model, equ..