Offshore Structures and Foundations

This area of research is concerned with the development of designs for offshore structures, such as those used for oil and gas exploration and production. The work is principally concerned with the foundations, but also requires knowledge of the behaviour of the structure and of the wind and wave forces that act on it. The research concentrates particularly on the behaviour of shallow foundations (spudcans, caissons, gravity bases), although we also do work on piled foundations. Researchers in the group currently working in this area are Prof. Guy Houlsby (who has directed most of the work since 1980), Dr Chris Martin and Dr Byron Byrne. Collaborative work on skirted foundations has been established with the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at the University of Western Australia. This allows researchers from Oxford to visit UWA, and vice versa. Recently we were awarded money from EPSRC and the DTI to investigate the application of suction caisson foundations to offshore wind turbines.

Current Research

• 3D modelling of the upheaval buckling of offshore pipelines
• Novel Foundations for Offshore Wind Turbines (EPSRC) and The Application of Suction Caisson Foundations to Offshore Wind Turbines (DTI)
• Behaviour of Submerged Skirted Foundations under Combined Vertical, Moment and Horizontal Loading (IREX)
• Physical and Numerical Modelling of a Jack-Up Rig Subjected to Random Seas (IREX)
• Development of a Six Degree of Freedom Loading Rig (Royal Society)
• The Combined {V, H, M} Loading Rig
• Moment Fixity of Spudcan Footings
• Buckling of Thin Walled Suction Caisson Foundations
• Physical and Numerical Modelling of Jack-Up Units
• Theoretical Analysis of Bearing Capacity
• Investigating Yield Surface Shapes for Footings on Loose Sand

Recent Research

• Geotechnical Instrumentation of an Offshore Caisson Foundation Trial (Rhodes Trust, EPSRC)
• Investigations of Suction Caissons in Dense Sand (Rhodes Trust, EPSRC)
• Use of Reliability Methods for the Analysis of Jack-Up Units (Rhodes Trust)
• Partially-Drained Loading of Shallow Foundations on Sand (EPSRC)
• Combined Loading of Shallow Foundations on Carbonate Sand (Rhodes Trust)
• Combined Loading of Shallow Foundations on Clay
• Combined Loading of Shallow Foundations on Sand

Here is a full list of our publications on this subject.

Current Research Assistants and Graduate Students

• Richard Sandford, DPhil Student, "Lateral bucking of offshore pipelines"
• Jens Schupp, DPhil Student "3D Modelling of the Upheaval Buckling of Pipelines"
• Oliver Cotter, DPhil Student "Foundation options for offshore wind turbines"
  

Visitor

• Dr Zhu Bin, Zhejiang University, "Foundations for offshore wind turbines"