<p>The multi-bucket foundation is widely used in offshore engineering, and the foundation inclination during installation necessitates leveling to ensure its bearing capacity. Although the numerical simulation offers an efficient and rapid approach of validating leveling strategies, the significant large deformation during foundation leveling makes conventional approaches unable to directly simulate, let alone reliably capture the associated seepage distribution characteristics. This study presents a CEL simulation approach incorporating the temperature analogy method to address this gap. Through comparative analysis with the results of a physical model experiment of the four-bucket foundation leveling, it is found that this method can accurately reflect the displacement of the foundation. Moreover, based on the temperature analogy method, seepage distribution patterns during leveling, which are difficult to observe in experiments, were analyzed using CEL. These findings can effectively guide the evaluation of leveling strategies during the penetration-leveling process of the multi-bucket foundation and provide an analysis tool for seepage characteristics during the foundation leveling process.</p>