On the Bearing Capacity of Suction Bucket Foundations in Saturated Sand

Abstract

The load displacement curves of a suction bucket foundation under vertical, horizontal and combined loadings are studied experimentally. The effects of sand density on the bearing capacity are also investigated. It is shown that, under combined loading, the load conditions under which a foundation fails form a failure locus. The horizontal bearing capacity increases with the increase of the vertical loading if the latter is below a critical value. But the horizontal bearing capacity decreases when it exceeds the critical value. The bearing capacity increases with the increase of the sand density in the range of the experiments in this paper. For the same bucket diam, the horizontal bearing capacity increases with the aspect ratio (H/D). The vertical bearing capacity is influenced by the aspect ratio and the ratio of the height of the sand bed to that of the bucket.