Lifting objects off seabed

PhD student

Supervisors

Project Details

Most of us have experienced the difficulty of lifting our shoes up from muddy ground (the quintessential ‘stuck in the mud’). This tells us that uplifting an object off the seabed requires much greater than its own submerged weight. This is termed as breakout phenomenon. The most significant component of the resistance force emanates from the ‘suction’ generated. During uplifting the ‘suction’ will dissipate and an abrupt and significant reduction in uplift resistance may occur.

The research aims to improve the understanding of breakout process to enable offshore engineering operations, where a wide variety of applications, such as decommissioning of offshore infrastructures and securing offshore foundations, would require the knowledge of this problem.