Effects of Stomping on Mitigating Sliding Risk During Reinstallation of Spudcans Near Footprints

The footprints left on the seabed by the previous operations of offshore mobile jack-up rigs may pose risks to any future jack-up installations at this location. The spudcan might potentially slide towards the existing footprint. Failure to mitigate this potential risk could result in severe structural damage or even catastrophic failure. Thus, the jack-up industry urgently requires feasible mitigation measures to address this issue. This paper presents a case of a jack-up rig revisiting a site in the Bohai Sea Gulf. At this site, due to the previous visits of four rigs, the geological conditions are complex and there is a potential sliding risk. To ensure the safety of the rig during the installation process at this site, the stomping method, which has been successfully implemented in the field, was applied to tackle the problem. This paper proposes the stomping scheme for this site and analyzes the corresponding application effects.