Session: 10-04-01 Anchors and Moorings 1

Submission Number: 156796

Numerical Investigation of a Novel Caisson-Plate Gravity Anchor Under Combined V-H-M Loading in Clay 

Floating wind power is at the forefront of offshore wind energy development, offering significant potential for large-scale renewable energy production. To address the challenges of reducing the overall costs of mooring systems and enhancing the operational efficiency of floating wind farms for large-scale commercial deployment, a novel caisson-plate gravity anchor (CGA) has been proposed and meticulously designed.

This study comprehensively evaluates the bearing performance of the CGA under a range of loading conditions, including vertical, horizontal, moment uniaxial, and combined loads, particularly in clay soil environments. Finite element models were developed and rigorously validated to simulate the anchor's behavior under various loading scenarios. Through detailed analyses, the failure mechanisms of the CGA under different uniaxial loads were investigated and compared with those of traditional suction anchors. The results highlight significant performance improvements with the CGA, particularly in terms of uniaxial ultimate bearing capacity in horizontal and moment directions.

Furthermore, the study examined the effects of varying vertical load levels on the uniaxial bearing capacity and horizontal-moment (HM) load envelopes. The research provided generalized analytical expressions for three-dimensional vertical-horizontal-moment (VHM) combined load envelopes for both the CGA and suction caissons, offering a robust framework for their comparative evaluation.

These findings deliver crucial insights into the structural and functional advantages of CGA, underscoring its suitability for shared mooring applications in floating wind farms. The research not only advances the design methodology for offshore anchoring systems but also provides a foundation for optimizing the cost-efficiency and scalability of floating wind energy projects.

Presenting Author: Shengjie Rui Norwegian Geotechnical Institute

Presenting Author Biography: Shengjie Rui, a Marie Curie Research Fellow with full marks (Top 0.33%), is currently working at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) in Norway, focusing on research related to offshore geotechnics and ocean engineering. I hold a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from Zhejiang University, supervised by Prof. Lizhong Wang and Prof. Zhen Guo.
I lead 1 European Union fundings, participate in 5 international level projects (European Union, Norway), have published over 46 papers (including 35 SCI papers, 1 article is selected as highly cited and hot topic paper), hold 15 national invention patents (including 5 US invention patents), and get 761 citations by Google.
I serve as a Nominated/Corresponding Member of several Technical Committees within the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), including TC104 Physical Modelling, TC209 Offshore Geotechnics, TC213 Scour and Erosion, and TC309 Machine Learning. Additionally, I am a member of the International Association for Geological Disaster Reduction (ICGdR) TC-4. I also hold roles as Session Chair for the GeoShanghai International Conference 2024 and the ASME 2024 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore, and Arctic Engineering.
I serve as Associate Editor for the SCI journal KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering and as a member of the Editorial Board for Frontiers in Marine Science. Additionally, I have been invited as a Guest Editor for Frontiers in Marine Science, Sustainability, and Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. I also review papers for over 30 SCI journals, including Géotechnique, Marine Structures, Ocean Engineering, and Acta Geotechnica.
I have built a strong network with professors from leading universities worldwide and have been invited to present at several prestigious institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of California (Berkeley and Davis), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), University of Southampton, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and the University of Dundee.
I have received over 25 honors and awards, including Bright Spark Lecturer awarded by International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), LIU Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Award (Only 12 in the world), the Excellent PhD Thesis Award from the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering (CSRME) (Only ten in China), Excellent PhD Thesis Award of Zhejiang University (TOP3%), the China National Scholarship, and First Prize of Engineering Construction Science and Technology Progress of China (Industry Association Award).