Offshore projects

Australia - Wheatstone Downstream Project

Assistance in planning new geotechnical site investigations. Definition of geotechnical soil profiles and assistance to the Client in choosing the location of the (2km long) trestle and the (15km long) dredged access channel. Design of trestle foundation piles. Definition of offshore soil properties for dredging purposes. Stability analysis of the breakwaters.
Cernobbio, Italy - Villa Erba
Tunisia - BARAKA Platform
Nigeria - Brass LNG Terminal

Offshore

Introduction
Projects

Foundation design and analyses related to the installation of offshore platforms and marine structures. Harbours, trestles and near-shore works.

SOIL’s expertise in offshore engineering has always been one of their key strengths. The know-how in this field has been constantly updated since SOIL’s establishment.

Typical capabilities are:

design of geophysical and geotechnical site investigations at sea, both in medium (100m) and deep (up to >1500m) water, including technical specifications, remote and on-board supervision of works;
data interpretation to deduce the design soil profile and all needed parameters for further analyses. This is typically done (e.g.) for the design of submarine pipelines, to analyse the stability at seabed and pipeline burial by means of appropriate soil models;
geotechnical design of offshore platforms. With reference to piling, this involves design with respect to both horizontal and vertical loads and pile installation/driving analyses. Back-analyses of pile driving are often performed to check the actual attainment of the expected bearing capacity. Stability problems of temporary foundations (prior to pile installation) are also always addressed;
geotechnical and/or structural design of pull-in devices (for the onshore connection of submarine pipelines) and anchorages of floating bodies;
design of near-shore structures such as quays, trestles, piers, breakwaters, dredged areas, disposal basins, etc.
The most suitable construction solutions are chosen (steel/concrete, driven/drilled piles, caissons etc.) and relevant design criteria are defined. If embankments/breakwaters at sea are concerned, stability analyses and settlement evaluations are performed.

In all cases, design is completed by on-site works recommendations (including possible monitoring instrumentation).
In recent years, validation of projects by other engineering firms has often been carried out, involving detailed critical analyses and providing support to designers until the fulfilment of all relevant standards has been achieved.