Procedures used to obtain soil parameters for foundation engineering in the North Sea

Abstract

It is difficult and expensive to perform high‐quality soil investigations for platforms and pipelines offshore in deep waters and restless seas. This is especially true in the North Sea where the “weather window”; is small, and careful planning and timing of the soil investigation is essential. Field equipment, drilling, sampling and in situ soil testing procedures are described herein. The need for some laboratory testing on‐board, run simultaneously with the sampling operation, is stressed, and the sample handling and laboratory testing procedures used on‐shore are described and evaluated. The state of the art is discussed, and some future trends and desirable developments outlined.