HSE
Health & Safety
Executive
Guidelines for jack-up rigs with particular
reference to foundation integrity
Prepared by MSL Engineering Limited for the
Health and Safety Executive 2004
RESEARCH REPORT 289
HSE
Health & Safety
Executive
Guidelines for jack-up rigs with particular
reference to foundation integrity
Adrian Dier BSc., MSc., PhD., CEng, MICE, MASCE
Brian Carroll BSc., MSc., PhD., CEng, MICE, MASCE
Solmaz Abolfathi BSc., MSc.
MSL Engineering Limited
Platinum Blue House
18 The Avenue
Egham
Surrey
TW20 9AB
A jack-up rig is typically used at a dozen or more sites during its service life. It can therefore be
expected to encounter a range of water depths, environmental load conditions and soil types. For each
candidate site, an assessment is conducted to determine the suitability of the unit for the site and to
provide data for the installation operation. Such assessments are normally conducted using the
SNAME Technical and Research Bulletin 5-5A.
This report addresses the foundations of jack-up rigs, with the overall objective of determining current
knowledge and assessment practices. An exhaustive literature search was initially conducted to
establish a database of knowledge. A review of the collated data identified case histories of foundation
problems, and in turn the major challenges associated with foundation assessment. Various foundation
topics (e.g. punch through, bearing and sliding capacity, existing footprints, rack phase difference, etc.)
were then examined in depth and recommendations made. In many cases the recommendations are a
reaffirmation of existing guidance; in other cases some improvements to the existing guidance are
suggested. In the case of rack phase difference, there is no guidance in SNAME and therefore specific
provisions have been developed herein.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its
contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do
not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
HSE BOOKS
ii
© Crown copyright 2004
First published 2004
ISBN 0 7176 2926 0
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner.
Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to:
Licensing Division, Her Majesty's Stationery Office,
St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ
or by e-mail to hmsolicensing@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
iii
CONTENTS
Page No
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................1
2 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................2
2.1 Background and Need for Study ..................................................................2
2.2 Scope of Work..............................................................................................2
3 AVAILABLE INFORMATION ...............................................................................4
3.1 Guidance Documents ...................................................................................4
3.2 Public Domain Literature .............................................................................5
3.3 Case Histories...............................................................................................7
4 ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION ....................................................................15
4.1 Initial Penetration and Punch-Through ......................................................16
4.2 Bearing Failure and Settlement ..................................................................20
4.3 Sliding Failure ............................................................................................29
4.4 Previous Footprints ....................................................................................32
4.5 Significance of Rack Phase Difference (RPD)...........................................37
4.6 Scour…………….......................................................................................47
4.7 Layered Soils..............................................................................................52
4.8 Foundation Fixity .......................................................................................54
4.9 Jack-up Spudcan/Jacket Pile Interaction ....................................................57
4.10 Effects of Cyclic Loading...........................................................................59
4.11 Debris and Other Objects on Seabed..........................................................61
4.12 Shallow Gas Pockets ..................................................................................62
4.13 Seafloor Instability .....................................................................................63
4.14 Liquefaction ...............................................................................................65
iv
5 KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS...............................................................70
5.1 Key Findings ..............................................................................................70
5.2 Conclusions ................................................................................................74
REFERENCES
NOTATION
1
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document summarises a study undertaken by MSL Engineering Limited for the Health
and Safety Executive. The study concerns the foundations of jack-up rigs, with the overall
objective of determining current knowledge and assessment practices. In addition, some
design guidelines on site specific integrity issues have been prepared.
The work began with an exhaustive literature review; over 250 documents were sourced for
the study. Case histories were collated from the sourced documents and over 50 incidents
relating to jack-up foundation problems were identified. Punch-through (rapid penetration
through a stronger soil layer overlying a weaker one) has the highest rate in foundation
incident causes, accounting for over 50% of all foundation incidents and the great majority of
fatalities that have occurred in jack-up foundation related accidents. The second highest rate
in foundation incident causes is for uneven seabed / scour / footprints.
The information contained in the literature, including existing guidance within SNAME and
ISO documents, was assessed under various headings or topics:
• punch-through
• bearing failure and settlement
• sliding failure
• footprints
• rack phase difference (RPD)
• scour
• layered soils
• foundation fixity
• jack-up spudcan and jacket pile interaction
• cyclic loading
• debris
• shallow gas
• seafloor instability
• liquefaction.
For each topic and as appropriate: definitions are given, the effects on foundation behaviour
are described, analysis/assessment approaches are summarised, mitigation methods are
presented, and recommendations are made. In many cases the recommendations are a
reaffirmation of existing guidance; in other cases some improvements to the existing guidance
are suggested. In the case of rack phase difference, there is no guidance in SNAME or ISO
and therefore specific provisions for RPD have been developed.
A number of flowcharts have been prepared. The flowcharts serve the following purposes:
• A visual overview of potential problems that may be encountered during the jack-up
installation phase
• A visual overview of potential problems that may be encountered during in-service
operations
• A summary of the jack-up foundation design process
• Detailed design process for selected topics.
2
2 INTRODUCTION
This report has been prepared by MSL Engineering Limited (MSL) for the Health & Safety
Executive (HSE) following various HSE/MSL discussions, and relates to the preparation of
guidelines on the safety and integrity of jack-up rigs, with particular reference to foundation
integrity.
2.1 BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR STUDY
Over the past few years, a large number of research and technology development projects
have been carried out in the UK and elsewhere on jack-up integrity. One of the primary
focuses has been the integrity of jack-up foundation systems and associated risks.
Whilst a significant amount of useful information has been generated, there is an increasing
recognition that this information is diverse and not easily accessible by the practising
engineer. A proposal was therefore prepared for HSE’s review and consideration, with the
following target objectives:
1. To review/capture all information on the integrity of jack-up rigs, with specific focus
on foundation and soil-structure interaction, including case histories.
2. To prepare a document on current knowledge and assessment practices.
3. To prepare engineering guidelines on site specific integrity issues.
2.2 SCOPE OF WORK
The following scope of work was proposed to meet the above stated objectives:
i. Capture all documents related to the integrity of jack-up rigs, including standards and
recommended practices.
ii. Undertake review of the present-day state-of-the-art and state-of-practice.
iii. Identify and catalogue all relevant case histories.
iv. Undertake a critical appraisal of all the foundation related matters, including the
following:
• Installation of jack-up rigs in close proximity to jacket structures, i.e. jack-up
spudcan/jacket pile interaction
• Initial penetration and punch-through
• Settlement under storm loading/bearing failure
• Foundation fixity
• Sliding failure
• Scour
• Seafloor instability
• Shallow gas pockets
3
• Existing debris
• Sloping foundation and eccentric loading, and significance of Rack Phase Difference
(RPD)
• Previous footprints
• Layered soils
• Effects of cyclic loading
• Liquefaction.
v. Prepare guidelines with specific focus on foundation related matters.
vi. Prepare report covering all work carried out and all findings.
4
3 AVAILABLE INFORMATION
3.1 GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS
There are two principal sets of guidance documents covering design and assessment
engineering of jack-ups, and these are discussed below. In this report, they are generally
referred to as SNAME (1) and ISO (2) for simplicity.
3.1.1 SNAME
The primary guidance used by the jack-up industry is “Society of Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers Technical and Research Bulletin 5-5A”. The first edition of SNAME was
issued in May 1994 and was based on a Joint Industry-Funded Project involving all sections
of the industry. The background to the project was disseminated at a seminar (3) held at City
University, London, in September 1993. There have been two revisions since the first
edition. The first revision was issued in May 1997 and the second in January 2002. Unless
noted otherwise, in this report a reference to SNAME implies the latest version (2002).
The SNAME T&R Bulletin 5-5A 2002 contains four documents:
• T&R5-5—“Guideline for Site Specific Assessment of Mobile Jack-Up Units” (First
Edition – May 1994)
• T&R5-5A—“Recommended Practice for Site Specific Assessment of Mobile Jack-Up
Units” (First Edition – Rev 2, January 2002)
• Commentaries to Recommended Practice for Site Specific Assessment of Mobile Jack-Up
Units (First Edition – Rev 2, January 2002)
• Example (“Go-By”) Calculation Using Recommended Practice For Site Specific
Assessment of Mobile Jack-Up Units (Preliminary Issue – May 1994).
The stated purpose of the guideline (T&R5-5) is to identify the factors that are likely to be the
main concerns for any site assessment of a jack-up unit. It is not intended to be used as
guidance for design or construction. The Recommended Practice document (T&R5-5A)
provides specific provisions for use with the T&R5-5 Guideline. Each assessment should
cover the areas of the Recommended Practice as appropriate for the particular jack-up and
location. The Recommended Practice does not intend to impose calculation methods or
procedures and leaves the engineer freedom to apply alternative practices within the
framework of the accompanying Guideline. The Commentaries to the Recommended
Practice provide background information, supporting documentation, and additional or
alternative calculation methods as applicable.
A summary of the coverage within SNAME for the topics investigated in this study is
included in Table 1.
3.1.2 ISO
The working draft ‘C’ of International Standard ISO, Part 1, entitled ‘Petroleum and Natural
Gas Industries—Site specific assessment of mobile offshore units (ISO/WD 19905-1.4)’, was
issued in October 2003 for review and comment. Part 2 of this document is the associated
commentary. These documents are to be published as international standards in the future.
They are very largely based on the SNAME documents, the main difference being purely one
5
of format. Unless noted otherwise, in this report a reference to ISO implies the working draft
‘C’, ISO/WD 19905-1.4 (2).
There is also an ISO standard “ISO 19901-4:2003(E)” (4) on geotechnical and foundation
design. However, this document does not cover all investigated topics in this study.
A summary of ISO coverage for the topics investigated in this study is included in Table 1.
Table 1 SNAME and ISO coverage of foundation issues
No Topic
Relevant
Clause in
SNAME
Relevant Clause in
ISO/ WD 19905-1.4
Level of Detail
(SNAME)
Level of Detail
(ISO)
1 Punch-Through 6.2.6;8.3.5 A.9.3.2.7 Detailed Detailed (mainly follows SNAME)
2 Settlement under Storm Loading 6.3.3.4 A.9.3.3.2.4 Mentioned Mentioned
3 Sliding 6.3.3; 6.3.4; 8.3.1
13.7.2; A.9.3.3.2;
A.9.3.3.3 Detailed
Detailed (mainly
follows SNAME)
4 Previous Footprints 6.4.2 9.3.4.2 Partly detailed
Partly detailed
(mainly follows
SNAME)
5 Rack Phase Difference - - No mention No mention
6 Scour 6.4.3 9.3.4.3 Mentioned Mentioned
7 Layered Soils 6.2.6 A.9.3.2.7 Detailed Detailed (mainly follows SNAME)
8 Foundation Fixity 5.3; 6.3; 8.3 13.7.4; A.8.6.3; A.9.3.3.3; A.9.3.3.4 Detailed
Detailed (mainly
follows SNAME)
9 Spudcan/Pile Interaction 6.4.6 9.3.5; A.9.3.5 Mentioned Mentioned
10 Cyclic Loading 6.4.4 9.3.4.5 Mentioned Mentioned
11 Existing Debris 3.13.1 A.9.2.1.2 Mentioned Mentioned (mainly follows SNAME)
12 Shallow Gas Pockets 6.4.5 9.3.4.6 Mentioned Mentioned
13 Instability of Seafloor 6.4.4 9.3.4.4 Mentioned Mentioned
14 Liquefaction/Pore-pressure 6.4.4 9.3.4.5 Mentioned Mentioned
As suggested by Table 1, ISO is very similar to SNAME since it is based on SNAME.
However, ISO has more guidance than SNAME in some areas.
3.2 PUBLIC DOMAIN LITERATURE
An extensive literature search was conducted to obtain comprehensive information regarding
jack-up foundations. Data has been collected from the early years of jack-up use to the
present-day. The following methods to identify and subsequently source documents were
followed during this stage of the work:
6
(a) Internet Searches by keyword
The World Wide Web was searched for information using keywords in Internet search
engines. A number of keywords were used in the searches including:
• Spud-can, spud can, spudcan
• Jack-up, jackup, jack up
• Footing
• Fixity
• Initial penetration
• Debris
• Scour
• Footprint
• Shallow gas, etc.
(b) Internet searches of specific sites
Also, a broad search has been done within specific websites that were thought likely to
contain relevant information. These sites include:
• Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website for OTO, OTH, OTI, RR reports, safety
notices and more.
• Minerals Management Service (MMS) website
• International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) website
• United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) website
• Centre of Offshore Foundations Systems (COFS) website, University of Western
Australia. A large amount of relevant information and papers are available for
downloading from this website.
(c) MSL Engineering in-house library
(d) Conference papers
• Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), 1969-2003
• Jack-Up Platforms Conference, 1987-2003
• International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers Conference (ISOPE), 1991-
2003
• Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference (OMAE), 1994-2003
• Behaviour of Offshore Structures conference (BOSS), 1976-2003
These conferences were checked for all years they have been held.
(e) Journals and magazines
Journals/magazines listed from citation and Internet searches were examined. The
journals and magazines included: Oil and Gas Journal, Offshore Magazine, Journal of
Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Marine Structures, Japanese, Canadian and
British Geotechnique magazines. Marine Structures and British Geotechnique journals
were looked at with a greater effort as these appeared to have a greater proportion of
relevant articles.
7
(f) Authors were contacted directly for further information on tracked papers and research.
(g) Cited references
Further documents were found from the reference lists of sourced papers and documents.
Over 350 references were initially identified. Following a screening process, based
mainly on document title, a total of 250 documents were thought to be of particular
interest and were therefore sourced to form a “project library”. The documents in the
project library were then reviewed, categorizing each document according to one or more
of the various topic areas discussed in this report, and entered into a database. This stage
of work is summarised in Table 2, which shows the breakdown by topic area and
publication year. (Note, some documents cover more than one topic area.)
Table 2 Classification of references by topic area and publication date
Topic Area Before 1980
1981-
1990
1991-
2000
After
2001 Total
Spudcan / Pile Interaction 0 8 8 7 23
Punch-Through 0 15 13 11 39
Settlement 1 4 14 10 29
Sliding 1 3 13 6 23
Scour 0 3 2 6 11
Instability of Seafloor 0 3 2 2 7
Shallow Gas 0 0 4 1 5
Debris 0 1 1 1 3
Rack Phase Difference 0 5 1 7 13
Footprints 0 3 2 10 15
Layered Soils 1 6 3 3 13
Cyclic Loading 0 7 20 8 35
Liquefaction / Pore-Pressure 1 1 9 2 13
Fixity 2 17 54 23 96
Fatigue 0 0 1 4 5
Risk of Impact with Jacket 0 0 4 4 8
Case History 0 10 13 10 33
Unclassified 3 2 13 9 27
Total No. of Documents 7 44 108 71 230
3.3 CASE HISTORIES
During the collation and classification of obtained literature, those documents identifying case
histories of failure incidents were tagged. Some of these incidents are discussed in detail in
these references but the majority of them are just merely mentioned as having occurred.
A table of the available data including jack-up name, location, date and cause of accident was
prepared. Further investigation was carried out using the Internet to acquire more information
(where available) about missing data for each case.
It should be noted that in reality there might be many other incidents that have never been
reported in the public domain. Therefore, the following set of data is not a complete database
8
and only reflects a limited experience. However, it is a complete collection of all available
data on case histories in the project library. The data is compiled into Table 3.
One third of jack-up accidents have been associated with foundation problems (5 & 6). Causes
are classified to categories such as punch-through (during preloading or hurricane/storm
events), uneven seabed / scour /