7:2 (2015) Journal of Modeling and Optimization

Optimization of Padeye Position for Deepwater Suction Anchor under

Inclined loading

Zhu Shengqing
American Bureau of Shipping, Singapore
E-mail: sinozsq@gmail.com

Abstract: To maximize the load capacity of deepwater suction anchor, padeye position is to be optimized to
avoid rotation for a given anchor geometry. This paper presents a robust method to estimate the optimal padeye
position of suction anchor in sand using Limit Equilibrium Method. By using this method, a case study which is
performed for a typical suction anchor is designed in a typical geotechnical data for sand under inclined
loading.
Keywords: Optimization; Deepwater; Suction Anchor; Subsea Engineering.

1. Introduction

Suction anchors, also known as suction pile/suction caisson, are cylindrical structures with upper end closed
and lower end open. In the past, it might be used either as a shallow foundation or as a short stubby pile and the
shallow foundation option is more common at sandy soil sites. As oil and gas activities proceeding to
deepwater, suction anchors with taut mooring system have gradually become important foundations of ships,
floating production and storage facilities because of their low cost construction and convenient installation. In
taut mooring systems that anchors are responsible of absorbing significant vertical load component as well as
horizontal load. After an initial penetration into the seabed by self-weight of suction anchor, an under-pressure
will be applied inner the caisson, which push the remainder of the caisson downwards to embed itself, leaving
the top flush with the seabed. Compared with conventional driven pile foundations, suction anchors have
multiple advantages in deep water:
1) Usable in deepwater and ultra-deepwater
2) Easy to handle
3) Simple installation equipment
4) Load can be instantly applied
5) Tremendous holding power in all directions
6) Better to predict failure loads than with anchors
7) Retrievable
8) Large range of possible use
Besides, there is a trend that suction anchor is becoming larger and larger, while its application stretches into
deeper and deeper water. Nowadays, its application is also expanded to fixation of subsea manifold and pipeline
[1]. A typical suction anchor is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Typical suction anchor and the top [1]

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The design of a suction anchor involves material selection, geometry, and installation analysis, load capacity
analysis for in-place condition and long-term analysis. In the stage to determine load capacity for a given
suction anchor geometry, the design of payede position is vital for the failure mode and load capacity of suction
anchor [1].
This work will focus on the stage that all soil data and geometry of suction anchor are determined while the
depth of padeye is to be optimized. The main purpose of this paper is to present design method to optimize the
load capacity of suction anchor via seeking the optimal padeye position for a given geometry and the inclined
angle.

2. Design Practice
Upon the usage of suction anchor, research on the load capacity and failure mode are widely-documented.
Among them, Limit equilibrium method is the most widely applied theory. Limit equilibrium method solves the
problem from the assumption of force and/or moment equilibrium. Duncan states that the factor of safety, F, is
defined as the ratio of the shear strength of soil to the shear stress required for equilibrium. At the onset of
failure the shear strength along the slip surface is assumed to be fully mobilized and the factor of safety is
constant along the length of the entire surface. The factor of safety from the Spencer method will be used for the
purposes of this research as it is prone to the least amount of errors and is most suitable to the problem.
Finite Element Analysis is a powerful technique on the load capacity of suction anchor in deepwater. Finite
element analysis is a supplement or an alternative to limiting equilibrium analyses, especially for novel
geometries or load conditions, and for complex soil profiles. It is found that existing 3-D finite element methods
meet the analysis requirements of this code. It was also reported [2] that the plane limit equilibrium method
used in the calibration of this code, as well as a quasi 3-D finite element model, where the 3D effects are
accounted for by side shear on a 2-D model, generally show good agreement with the 3D finite element
analyses. Finite element method sets no prior assumption of failure mechanism, but automatically finds out the
critical failure mode for a specific case giving all detailed information about loading and soil characteristics. It
owns the advantage of modelling complex conditions like layered soils, irregular geometry, non-optimal load
point, and user defined random inclined angle for example. However, the theoretical solution of optimal padeye
attachment point needs multiple analyses to obtain.
The plastic limit analysis approach can be applied to soils having anisotropic strength characteristics.
Aubeny et al. consider suction caisson lateral load capacity in anisotropic clays under undrained loading
conditions. Parametric studies for typical reported ranges of strength anisotropy indicated that isotropic analyses
using the direct simple shear strength of the soil provide reasonable agreement (within 10%) with the more
rigorous anisotropic analyses. However, data on anisotropic strength characteristics are still relatively limited,
particularly with regard to the shearing resistance in a horizontal plane that controls much of the lateral load
capacity of suction caissons, so the issue should not be entirely discounted. Aubeny [6] also pointed out that the
optimal padeye attachment point should ensure the pure translation for the suction anchor without rotation.
In this work, Plastic Limit Method, FEA technique and other analysis methods with their characteristics are
summarized in table 1.

Figure 2 Padeye position for suction anchor

Table 1 Summary of suction anchor analysis methods with their characteristics

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Method Base theory Advantages Limitations Remark

3-D FEA Nonlinear Accommodate all Consuming Available for all

Finite Element loading/boundary of Computation commercial FEA software
Theory conditions without resources such as ABSQUS, ANSYS
major assumption and PLAXIS 3D.
Pseud 3-D Nonlinear Computing Accuracy
FEA Finite Element resource is reduced depending on
Theory & precise perdition
Fourier Series of failure modes
Limit Elastic Easy to apply for Detailed
equilibrium equilibrium elastic analysis and stress
method theory engineering design distribution is
absent
plastic Plastic Limit Upper bound, Upper bound may not be
limit analysis theory without lower used for engineering design
[7] bound of load for load capacity
capacity can be
predicted
P-Y L/D>1.5
method

3. Optimization of Padeye position

It is widely recognized that to maximize the load capacity of suction anchor, the padeye should be in the
point that the suction anchor will translate with rotation under inclined load [2-7]. It is estimated that this status
corresponds to a special location of load attachment point- optimal load point, which is found to be around 70
percent of the caisson embedment depth [7] as shown in Fig.3.

Figure 3 Failure modes under lateral load and inclined load [8]
For a suction anchor with embed length L and outer diameter D for a given inclined angle  , the optimal
Lp
padeye depth is L p . The final objective will be the optimal ratio of .
L
In 1993, Murff and Hamilton pioneered an accurate model based on the velocity in Figure 4 with the upper
bound method of plasticity. They assume a 3D failure mechanism in Figure 5. In 2005, Aubeny developed the
theory using Plastic Limit Analysis and gave a mature methodology for load capacity of suction anchor [7].

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Figure 4 Suction Caisson rigid body motions under inclined loading.

Figure 5 Soil collapse mechanism by a) Murff and Hamilton, b) Aubeny et al. [7]

Figure 6 Failure Mechanism at Bottom of caisson [7]

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Figure 7 Illustration of the geometry for suction anchor with padeye

The failure mechanism of suction anchor is illustrated in Figure 6 and a simplified dimensionless expression
for moment capacity M bo can be formulated [7]:
S 2 R1
M bo R
= 2 1 + e¯ R (1) 
0.5 2 R 3Suavg R

Where
R is the outer radius of suction anchor and R = D/2
Suavg is the average strength of soil over suction anchor tip
R1 is the radius of rotation from the tip level of the suction anchor
I 2 is a constant, which is I 2 = 1.118 [7].

To maximize the capacity, we differentiate Eq. (1) with respect to R1 and make it to be zero, which gives:
I 2
ln
R1 2
= (2)
R I2

Substituting R=D/2 and I 2 = 1.118 into Eq. (2), we get the solution for R1 :
R1
= 0.252 (3)
D
As shown in Figure 7, the following equation can be drawn as per Fig. 7:
L p = L － R1 － R3 (4)

and
D
R3 = tan  (5)
2
Substituting Eq. (3) and (5) into Eq. (4), L p is given by
tan 
Lp = L － ( + 0.252)D (6)
2
It is shown in Eq. (6) that the depth of padeye is dependent on the geometry of suction anchor, as well as the
Lp
inclined angle over padeye. To seek the ratio of , Eq. (6) can be deformed as
L

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Lp tan  D
= 1 －( + 0.252) (7)
L 2 L
Eq. (7) is plotted in Figure 8.

Figure 8 Variation of optimal padeye position with aspect ratio of suction anchor for different inclined
angle

Lp
As can be seen in Figure 8, the ratio increases with the aspect ratio L/D increasing and it increases when
L
the inclined angle decreasing.

4. Conclusions

The optimal padeye position is sought for suction anchor via Plastic limit Method and the load capacity of a
given suction anchor is maximized with an explicit formula in this paper. The optimal padeye depth increases
with the aspect ratio L/D increasing and it increases when the inclined angle decreasing. Furthermore, the
optimal padeye position is around 70% of the length of suction anchor in soil.

5. Acknowledgement

The authors are also grateful for the technical discussion with Professor Charles Aubeny of Texas A&M
University on the load capacity of suction anchor.

6. References

[1] Yong Bai, Qiang Bai. Subsea Engineering Handbook. 1st Edition, 2012
[2] API RP 2A, Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing and Constructing Fixed Offshore Platform
Working Stress Design, 21st Edition. Washington, D.C. American Petroleum Institute, 2005.
[3] API RP 2SK, Design And Analysis Of Station-keeping Systems for Floating Structures, 2005.
[4] ABS FPI Guide, For Building and Classing Floating Production Installations, 2007.
[5] DNV- RP-E303. Geotechnical design and installation of suction anchors in clay. DNV Recommended
Practice, 2005.
[6] Charles Aubeny, J. Donald Murff. Simplified limit solutions for the capacity of suction anchors under
undrained conditions. Ocean Engineering 32, 2005, 864–877.
[7] Aubeny, C.P., Han, S.W., Murff, J.D. Inclined load capacity of suction caissons. International Journal for
Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 27, 2003, 1235–1254.

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