Route Thaw Settlement: A Probabilistic Evaluation
A methodology is outlined for assessing potential differential thaw settlement effects on structures due to permafrost degradation along transportation routes in the offshore, nearshore,...
Arctic Earth Materials for Offshore Construction in Alaska
With the exploration activities onshore and offshore and the development of production facilities, the need for granular earth materials on the North Slope of Alaska is ever present. The...
Strength and Deformation Behavior of Frozen Saline Sand and Gravel
Construction of offshore oil and gas exploration and production structures often considers the use of either sand or gravel fill materials. Fill soils exposed to the environment will progressively...
Shear Strength in the Zone of Freezing in Saline Soils
The design of artificial islands and other geotechnical structures to support arctic offshore petroleum resource development requires considerable knowledge of the strength of frozen saline...
Time Dependent Material Properties Due to Solute Redistribution in Frozen Marine Soils
The design of earth structures and foundations in arctic marine environments requires the assessment of soil properties. A study is presented which investigates the change in mechanical...
Endochronic Constitutive Modeling of Frozen Soil
The static behavior of a permafrost type foundation, for a typical artificial island in the Arctic, is determined using endochronic axisymmetric finite element analysis. Endochronic constants...
The Deformation Properties of Warm Underocean Permafrost
Two quasi-conventional incremental pressuremeter tests were carried out on man-made specimens of 'warm' ( minus 3 degree C) frozen, saturated sand. Instead of...
Three-Dimensional Analysis of an Artificial Island
A nonlinear, finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the influence of three-dimensional loading and geometry on deformation and failure of an artificial island. The...
The Sand Mattress Method of Slope Protection
The sand mattress concept offers promise as an economical alternative to sand bag armor for two distinct applications: (1) slope protection for exploratory islands and/or causeway facilities,...
Effects of External Loadings on Large-Diameter Buried Pipelines
Development of oil and gas resources in the far north has involved extensive use of buried steel pipelines. Buried pipelines, particularly onshore, are frequently subjected to heavy superimposed...
Soil-Pipeline Interaction During Ground Movement
The problem of the elastic interaction is examined between a pipeline or a group of connected flexible connected pipelines and the surrounding soil medium, which is induced by ground movement....
Overview of Soil and Engineering Geologic Conditions in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas
General soil and engineering geologic conditions that are likely to affect exploratory drilling and development activities in six Alaska OCS lease sale areas are discussed. Important conditions...
Strength-Deformation Properties of Arctic Silt
Hydrocarbon exploration and production activities in the Beaufort Sea require construction of gravity structures capable of withstanding extremely large ice loads at sites where the subsea...
Undrained Cyclic Behaviour of Beaufort Sea Silt
Cyclic loading behaviour of Beaufort Sea silt has been studied under triaxial conditions, with and without static shear stress, to define the resistance to liquefaction or cyclic straining...
Wave Induced Liquefaction and Scouring in Yukon Prodelta Silts
The scouring potential of the Yukon prodelta has been investigated. The results obtained from geologic, hydrodynamic and geotechnical considerations indicate that probable liquefaction...
Cyclic Multiaxial Cubical Cell Experiments on a Norton Sound Silt
A servo-controlled multiaxial cubical test apparatus has recently been used to investigate the behavior of the foundation soil for a gravity structure in Norton Sound of the Alaska Outer...
Analysis of Liquefaction Potential of Hydraulically Placed Subsea Berms
The use of hydraulically placed sand for the construction of artificial islands for hydrocarbon exploration in the Beaufort Sea has necessitated detailed geotechnical evaluations of their...
Constitutive Equations for Ice as a Damaging Material
Constitutive equations for ice subjected to uniaxial compression are developed based on applications of the theory of continuous damage mechanics. A physical model of ice deformation response...
Fracture Theory for Nonhomogeneous Brittle Materials with Application to Ice
Brittle heterogeneous materials generally fracture with a dispersed zone of microcracking at the fracture front. The deformation and failure of these materials can be described by a nonlocal...
Geotechnical Characteristics of Seafloor Sediments: Norton Sound, Alaska
During the past few years the USGS has been conducting studies in the northern Bering Sea aimed at identifying geologic and environmental conditions that may be hazardous to offshore resource...
Return to search