The footprints that remain on the seabed after offshore jack-up platforms completed operations and moved out provide a significant risk for any future jack-up installation at that site. Detrimental horizontal and/or rotational loads will be induced on the base cone of the jack-up platform leg(spudcan) in the preloading process where only vertical loads are normally expected. However, there are no specific guidelines on design of spudcan re-installation very close to or partially overlapping existing footprints. This paper presents a rational design approach for assessing spudcan–footprint interaction and the failure process of foundation in a single layer based on nonlinear finite element method. The relationship between the distance between the spudcan and the footprint and the horizontal sliding force has been obtained.Comparisons of simulation and experimental results show that the model in this paper can deal well with the combined problems of sliding friction contact, fluid–solid coupling, and convergence difficulty. The analytical results may be useful to jack-up installation workovers close to existing footprints.
Jacket cutting operation is one of the most complicated and highest risk operations in the process of decommissioning offshore piled platform, the security and stability of which must be assured. In this paper, the current research on offshore structure removal and jacket cutting is introduced, on the basis of which the types of load along with the load calculation method are determined. The main influences on the stability of a jacket in cutting are analyzed. The experiment test plan is drawn by using orthogonal testing method, and the formula of critical load during the cutting procedure is deduced by differential evolution algorithm. To verify the method and results of this paper, an offshore piled platform to be decommissioned in the South China Sea is taken for an example, and the detailed schedule for jacket cutting is made with the three-dimensional finite element model of the jacket established. The natural frequency, stress, strain and stability of the jacket during cutting process are calculated, which indicates that the results of finite element analysis agree well with that of the deduced formula. The result provides the scientific reference for guaranteeing the safety of jacket in cutting operation.
