Deep Penetration of Rectangular Spudcan into Single-Layer Clay

Abstract

Rectangular foundations are employed as an emerging solution to support jack-up platforms, where the impact of changes in foundation shape and size compared to traditional circular foundations needs to be explicitly considered. However, few recent studies have addressed this topic. Therefore, this paper reports the deep penetration behavior of rectangular foundations in kaolin and silty clays based on centrifuge experiments and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques. The flow back of the soil is found to be complicated by the nonaxisymmetric characteristic of the rectangular spudcan. Sensitivity is the most critical factor affecting the flow state and bearing capacity response of different clays, and some discrepancies exist between the experimental bearing capacity results and the predicted values of the classical methods.