Effect of Shear Key Interarray on the Bearing Capacity of Grouted Connections of Prepiling Jacket Substructures

Jacket structures and piles penetrating the seabed are connected through grouted connections. The shear key shape is designed to improve the shear strength of grouted connections. On a construction site, it is difficult to control the height error of the inner and outer steel tubes because of the environmental load. In addition, an installation error leads to an error in the arrangement of the shear keys, degrading the structure's performance. Among the construction methods for installing jacket structures, prepiling is more economical than the post-file method, but construction errors are likely. In this study, the fracture shape and maximum axial load capacity were evaluated according to the arrangement error of the shear key. It was found that when an arrangement error of the shear key occurred, the maximum axial load decreased to within 10%.