The geotechnical centrifuges at COFS have a long history of servicing local and international industry and the NGCF is structured to maintain world-leading standards of collaboration and provide additional services to our industry partners.

The NGCF provides a wide range of services to industry including:

• determination of geotechnical properties by performing reduced scale in-situ soil characterisation tests on reconstituted soil samples,
• establishment of performance data for model calibration,/li>
• validation of technical solutions or new foundation concepts,
• validation of final geotechnical designs,
• observation of geotechnical behaviour, deformations and failure modes,

The NGCF has modelling capabilities that permit the investigation of design and performance issues associated with shallow and deep foundations, anchors and caissons, pipe-soil interaction, slope stability, retaining structures and embankments.

Service activities at the NGCF are supported by the full team of eight engineers and technicians. Projects for industry are managed by senior academics with extensive consulting and modelling experience.

 

Example: Determination of friction factors to assist in the design of offshore trunklines and flowlines for oil and gas applications

A model pipe, modelling a section of a real pipeline, is lowered to the seabed at an on-bottom pressure replicating the self-weight of the pipeline and is subjected to horizontal motions that replicate those experienced by the real pipeline during cycles of operation due to thermal buckling.

Modelling of these pipes has been performed to assist in the design of pipeline projects in the North West Shelf, in West Africa and in the Caspian Sea.

 

Example: Validation of anchor design for permanent mooring applications

An offshore anchor installed by a suction caisson to a target depth in the seabed is subjected to monotonic, sustained and cyclic loading, simulating the whole life cycle of the anchor. The trajectory during initial proof loading and subsequent capacity under storm loading is measured to establish recommendations for use as permanent moorings.