Date of Award

2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Advisor

Aaron Bradshaw

Abstract

The offshore wind industry has begun to expand along the coasts of the United States. Drilled micropiles have been proposed to anchor floating platforms at deep water sites. Current industry practice for offshore pile design typically involves two separate deployments: one for the site investigation and the second for foundation installation. Since site investigations and micropile installation both involve drilling, there could be an opportunity to perform both operations in a single offshore deployment which could result in significant cost savings. The objective of this thesis is to investigate if the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of rock can be interpreted directly from in-situ pressuremeter test (PMT) results. Numerical modelling was performed using FLAC3D to better understand the behavior and failure process of the PMT in rock. The FLAC3D models were validated by simulating existing physical test data from PMTs performed in the field and in laboratory concrete samples. The results show that it may be possible to identify both the tensile strength and UCS from inflection points on the pressuremeter curve which are most pronounced when the rock is intact.

Available for download on Thursday, May 27, 2027

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