Objective The project aims :- To prove the limits of safe and economic design of piled foundations of offshore North Sea oil and gas exploitation platforms in dense sands, through the load testing of life size piles at a representative dense sand location.- To provide a new data base for improved design and safety assessment, for new platform foundations and for re-assessment of existing platform foundations.- To contribute to the definition of the new Eurocode for the design of offshore structures.The project is designed for North Sea dense sand conditions, conditions not encountered or investigated elsewhere. It is the first time that a load test project will be carried out in these conditions at a sufficiently large scale to be meaningful to the users of such knowledge in the market.Pile load tests (12) performed and data base prepared. Review with Industry and Experts ongoing.In order to provide a new data base and to prove limits for safe and economic design of offshore foundation piles in North Sea dense sands and to contribute to the definition of new Eurocodes, load testing to 30 MN capacity of 30 inch diameter piles penetrating up to 45 m in dense sands, in Eemshaven, the Netherlands, are performed for the first time and at a sufficiently large scale to provide acceptable results for typical North Sea conditions which are not encountered elsewhere.Assessment of the data base of commonly used API Recommended Practice 2A proves inadequacy of data base for North Sea conditions. Proposed load tests will lead to new and upgraded design rules.New design as well as re-certification of the 250 existing platforms will be done with more confidence and less conservation and with substantiated partial safety/factors. Reduced pile-sizes or numbers will reduce pile driving efforts and subsequently reduce shock loading of the platform structure during driving,reduce fatigue accumulation and fatigue damage, increasing safety and residual lifetime.Per year 10-15 new platforms are founded in Dense Sands and will benefit from new design rules. They will require 1500 to 2500 tonnes of steel less as a result of upgrated design rules, reducing steel/energy/pollution and with a cost saving of 2 to 5 Million ECU per year in the North Sea area. Of particular interest to the economic development of marginal fields and second lifecycle use of existing facilities.Load tests must be lifesize to render acceptable and meaningful results, and are therefore costly. Many independent parties will benefit at some point in time. These potential benefits cannot easily be transformed into investment in and funding of the project. This calls for and leads to the organizational structure of a Joint Industries project with Oil companies and Certifying Authorities/Regulating Bodies, for cost-sharing, assuring acceptance of results and of incorporation of the results into new design codes.Proposers are professional geotechnical consultants and are involved in foundation assessment for more than 80% of the platforms in the North Sea area, implementing the project results in their engineering consultancy. Participants will implement the results in the design of their platforms and in the platforms of their affiliates and their field development partners, obtaining approval from Certifying Authorities. Proposers will monitor the use and acceptance of the results and assure, through the appropriate Regulating Bodies that the results will contribute to new design Eurocodes for public use. Programme(s) ENG-THERMIE 1 - Programme (EEC) for the promotion of energy technology in Europe (THERMIE), 1990-1994 Topic(s) 5.6 - MISCELLANEOUS Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme DEM - Demonstration contracts Coordinator FUGRO ENGINEERS BV (FEBV) EU contribution No data Address P.O. BOX 250 2260 AG LEIDSCHENDAM Netherlands See on map Total cost No data
