Caisson foundations as alternative anchors for permanent mooring of a process barge offshore Congo
Shallow caisson foundations are considered as alternative anchors for permanent mooring of a process barge at an oil and gas field developed by ELF Congo in the Gulf of Guinea. The 12 mooring lines are scheduled to be installed on site in July 1995 and the process barge will be connected in 1996 for start of production. With a water depth of about 170m, this field will be the deepest one offshore Western Africa to date. The soils at the site consist of soft normally consolidated clays. The paper presents the results of a comparative study of potential anchor solutions for this production barge, including high capacity drag anchors, driven piles, and shallow caisson foundations installed by underpressure. This comparative study, including design, construction, and installation of the mooring system, has shown that the caisson foundations represent the best suited solution, technically as well as on an economical point of view, because of the following advantages: (1) vertical load capability, thus allowing to reduce the anchoring pattern, (2) once positioned on the seabed, the location of each anchor is fixed and known with accuracy, and (3) more simple and shorter installation procedure, since caisson anchors, as piles, do not require to be proof-loaded on site.
- OSTI ID:
- 128955
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950501--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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