Behaviour of offshore piles subjected to storm loading

This paper presents results of a limited series of model pile tests in offshore calcareous soil subjected to three different storm loadings. Attention is concentrated on the accumulation of pile displacement induced by the storm loading, and on the post-storm load capacity of the pile. A non-linear boundary element analysis is described and is used in an attempt to predict the model test results based on soil parameters derived from earlier tests. The analysis is also employed to simulate the general cyclic behaviour of a field grouted pile test in calcareous soil. Some measure of agreement is found between predicted and measured behaviour. Finally, the analysis is used to investigate the behaviour of a hypothetical, but realistic, offshore pile subjected to a complete storm loading sequence.