Assessing the punch-through hazard of a spudcan on sand overlying clay

A complete analytical method to describe the full load-penetration resistance profile of a mobile jack-up spudcan footing penetrating a sand over clay stratigraphy is described. It is based on both large deformation finite-element analyses and geotechnical centrifuge experiments. The coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach is used to accommodate the large deformations of a spudcan footing penetrating sand overlying clay. Modified Mohr–Coulomb and Tresca models describe the sand and clay behaviour, with modifications accounting for the effects of strain softening on the response of the soil. The CEL results are shown to match centrifuge tests well, allowing the numerical study to be extended parametrically, and with confidence, to cover the range of layer geometries, sand relative densities and footing shapes that are of practical interest to offshore jack-ups. The results are used to (a) assess the performance of an existing model to predict the peak resistance in the sand layer (extending its range of application to medium dense to dense sands and to conical footings of angle 0° to 21°), and (b) develop an expression for the bearing capacity factor when the footing penetrates into the underlying clay. Using the analytical formulas proposed, retrospective simulations of centrifuge tests show that the method provides a reasonable estimate of the peak punch-through load, the behaviour in the underlying clay, as well as the punch-through distance; the latter being a basic reflection of the severity of a potential punch-through failure.