Investigation of scour effect on tensile capacity of suction caissons considering stress history of sand

AbstractSince the pull-out response of upwind caissonsgoverns the design of multi- caissonfoundations, it is worthwhile to study scour effect on the tensile capacity of suction caissons. The tensile capacity of suction caissonsafter scour is relevant to the scour depth and the pressure under the caissonlid: the tensile capacity decreases dramatically with increasing scour depth; the smaller the pressure, the stronger the weakening effect of scour. Moreover, the scour effect is investigated in two cases: ignoringstress history and considering stress history. The results show that tensile capacity after scour is larger when the stress history is considered, so ignoringthe stress history leads to a conservative design. In order to quantitatively evaluate the effect of scour depth and pressure, an empirical formulafor the tensile capacity of suction caissonsafter scour is proposed based on multiple regression analysis.