Keying of Plate Anchors in NC Clay Under Inclined Loading

Plate anchors are commonly used in the offshore industry to anchor floating facilities. They are installed vertically using a follower and subsequently rotated, through a process called keying, to exhibit their maximum area normal to the loading direction. This paper describes a series of centrifuge tests performed in order to investigate the influence of the keying on the overall performance of the anchor. Tests were conducted against a Perspex window in plane strain chambers containing normally consolidated clay. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) provided insights into the different failure mechanisms generated during keying, and information about the load inclination and load eccentricity minimising the loss of embedment and hence maximising the anchor performance. The loss of embedment after keying for different load inclinations and different load eccentricities was also quantified.