Design and performance of suction embedded plate anchors

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, London. This paper presents an overview of the research undertaken over the last five years at UWA to optimise the design and performance of suction embedded plate anchors. Insights from physical modelling, plasticity analysis and numerical modelling are gathered to reveal fundamental aspects of the anchor performance associated with the geometry of the anchor, the eccentricity and offset of the padeye and the design of the keying flap. The combined effect of the padeye offset on the reduction in loss of embedment (beneficial) and in bearing capacity (detrimental), and the inefficiency of the current keying flap design provide the primary focus of the paper.An optimal anchor design is proposed that (i) limits the loss of embedment during keying, (ii) maximises the post keying bearing capacity and (iii) enables the anchor to dive into stronger soil under loading applied through the mooring line. The findings can potentially be extrapolated to other anchor designs, such as dynamically penetrated anchors, which padeye position affects the anchor performance.