Journal of Intelligent Geotechnical Engineering and Foundations

Articles

Vol. 1 (2025)

Motion Behavior of The Suction Caisson Induced by Adjacent Spudcan Penetration in Sand

Submitted
December 9, 2025
Published
2025-12-26

Abstract

Suction caissons are commonly used as foundations for deep-sea offshore wind turbines. However, spudcan penetration from jack-up installation vessels can disturb nearby caissons. Model tests were conducted to investigate the effect of the spudcan penetration on the displacement, rotation, and earth pressure distribution of the adjacent suction caisson in sand. Results show that the motion behavior of the suction caisson during spudcan penetration is a combination of rotational and translational movements. The variations of lateral displacement, vertical displacement and rotation angle of the suction caisson decreases with increasing distance between the spudcan and the caisson. When the spudcan penetration depth equals 0.6 times of the diameter of the spudcan maximum cross-section, the position of the rotation center changes sharply from under the caisson lid to the above the caisson lid, meanwhile from a position away from the spudcan to one close to the spudcan. The peak value of earth pressure increases successively along the suction caisson wall with increasing spudcan penetration depth, which introduces changes in the motion behavior of the suction caisson. In addition, based on the test results, a theoretical method is proposed for predicting the suction caisson rotation angle under spudcan penetration.

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