Experimental Study on the Bearing Capacity of Bucket Foundation in Saturated Sand

Bucket foundation is a new type of foundation which may be used extensively in offshore structures. It is attracted by oil corporations and researchers because of its several advantages. The static bearing capacity of bucket foundation is studied by experiments of single-and four-bucket foundation in saturated sand layer. The characteristics of bearing capacity under vertical load and horizontal load are obtained experimentally. The horizontal load of four-bucket is applied in the direction parallel to one sideline or one catercorner of the quadrangle formed by the centers of four buckets. The load-displacement curves are obtained. The characteristics of single-bucket and four-bucket foundation, the effects of load direction and load rate are analyzed.