Numerical simulation to compute pile driving into the ocean floor

Details

Supervisors

Legat, Vincent ; Lambrechts, Jonathan

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil en mathématiques appliquées

Abstract

The installation of piles has become a real challenge in civil engineering, especially when it comes to the construction of marine structures. Ever-larger piles must be installed in extreme geotechnical conditions. During the installation process, the soil properties near the pile change significantly, affecting the density, the stresses, and the porosity of the soil. To gain a better understanding of the behavior of the soil and the influence of the fluid, the pile driving process has been simulated numerically. To do so, different modeling concepts have been explored. The free surface of the fluid is modeled using an interface-tracking method. A simplified Laplacian smoothing method has been developed to adapt the interior nodes of the domain. The conservation equations are solved using the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian description, allowing to take into account the deformation of the domain. The driving process is simulated and analyzed for different parameter choices. The model shows agreement with the results found in the literature.