Dynamic stiffness and damping of foundations for jacket structures

Foundation for offshore jacket structures may comprise of long floating piles. The dynamic response of floating piles to horizontal load is herein investigated. The analytical solution of horizontally vibrating end bearing piles by Novak & Nogami (1977) has been modified. At first the soil resistance as defined by Nogami & Novak (1977) is determined, considering 3D wave propagation within linear soil layer with hysteretic damping. Thereafter, the dynamic response of the pile is estimated assuming soil pressure equal to the soil resistance and imposing displacement compatibility. A parametric study clarifies the role of the parameters involved i.e. the depth of the soil layer, the pile diameter and the soil layer shear wave velocity. Results are presented in terms of dimensionless graphs which highlight the frequency dependency of the dynamic stiffness and damping.