Upper-bound solution of the horizontal bearing capacity of a composite bucket shallow foundation in sand

ABSTRACT

The composite bucket shallow foundation proposed by Tianjin University can be better adapted to the soft geological conditions in China for offshore wind engineering. The offshore wind turbines are generally subjected to relatively large horizontal load induced by waves, currents and ice loading. Therefore, calculating the horizontal bearing capacity is an important part of the design for the composite bucket shallow foundation. In this paper, according to the numerical simulation, considering the constraint of bucket foundation on internal soil in different degrees firstly, the horizontal soil damage rate is introduced into the formula as a new empirical parameter Next, upper-bound solution of the horizontal bearing capacity of a composite bucket shallow foundation is derived in sand. Fianally, the calculation method is validated by the bucket model tests with different height–diameter ratios in sand under horizontal loading.

KEYWORDS:

• Bucket foundation
• failure mechanism
• horizontal bearing capacity
• upper-bound theorem
• soil damage rates

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51709199), the Excellent Young Scholars of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51825904 and the Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51021004).