Numerical Analysis of Hybrid Mudmat Foundation for Offshore Structures
摘要
An offshore structure is a large structure with equipment for drilling wells, extracting oil and gas, processing it, and exporting the finished product to land. Mudmat foundations are provided for offshore structures on looser, softer soil on the seabed to prevent them from sinking. When a structure is exposed to high horizontal and vertical load in a deepwater project it is demonstrated that conventional mudmat foundation is found to be insufficient. A hybrid mudmat foundation may be more suitable in such cases. Hybrid mudmat foundations are combination of mudmat and piles foundation system. This paper presents the outcomes of a numerical analysis of hybrid mudmat foundation with perforations. Using MIDAS GTS NX software, the ultimate lateral load capabilities of hybrid and conventional mudmat foundations in layered sea beds are computed and compared. Results indicated that the hybrid mudmat foundation has higher ultimate lateral load capacities than those of conventional mudmat foundation. In addition, the lateral load capacity of hybrid mudmat increases with increases in skirt depth, while it decreases with increases in number of perforations in the mudmat.