Field Tests on Pullout Loading Capacity of Suction Piles in Clay

A series of field suction pile pullout tests were conducted inside the Okpo harbor located along the southern coast of Korea. Suction piles having inside diameters of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 meters and the length of five meters were tested. The seafloor condition at the Okpo harbor is predominantly clay. The piles were first installed by applying well-controlled suction pressure inside the pile. During the pullout tests, the load vs. pile displacement relationship and the water pressure variation inside the pile were carefully measured. The measurements were then used to validate an analytical solution that was developed previously to estimate the suction pile pullout loading capacity.