Experimental modeling of pile-leg interaction in jacket type offshore plafforms cyclic inelastic behavior

Abstract

Offshore platforms in seismically active areas should be designed to survive in the event of severe ground excitations with no global structural failure. The annulus between the pile and leg in jacket-type offshore platforms can be filled with cement grout as a means of reducing horizontal deflections, inhibiting corrosion and preventing local damages. This paper discusses an experimental approach which can be used to demonstrate the effect of grouting on enhanced structural performance of jackets. In this regard, the lateral load bearing behavior of grouted and un-grouted jackets are investigated experimentally with special attention to effect of grout on pile-leg interaction. Results are presented on the cyclic inelastic behavior of two scaled frame models of a representative platform which was recently installed in the Persian Gulf. The objective of this effort was to improve the understanding of the behavior of jackets subjected to lateral motions and specially the effects of exact real pile-leg interaction. it should be noted that this paper addresses the exact and realistic pile-leg interaction. It is concluded that grouting can not be considered as a definite method of improving strength and structural nonlinear dynamic behavior. Although it generally increases the lateral stiffness, but some side effects and points are to be considered. In this paper, the two separate lateral load bearing mechanisms -namely portal (braced) mechanism and frame bending mechanism- are distinguished and the effect of grout on each one is shown. © 2008 Science Publications.