Hydraulic and earth engineering – Marine structure or fabrication thereof – Structure protection
Patent
1985-08-26
1987-09-08
Corbin, David H.
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Marine structure or fabrication thereof
Structure protection
405217, 405224, 405229, E02B 1700, E02D 2752
Patent
active
046920650
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an offshore unit structure. When building up an offshore unit structure on a sea bottom soft ground, in order to prevent the structure from being deformed by gravitational load of the structure or by horizontal load applied thereto, a cement type solidifying agent is impregnated into and mixed with such soft ground to construct a unit-volume reformed ground, and the desired structure is built upon such reformed ground.
The present invention also can be applied to a unit structure used in prospecting for or production of oil in the sea.
For prospecting for or production of oil in the sea such as the Arctic Ocean, it is required to build a platform or artificial island at every spot well head.
In the Arctic Ocean, however, the structure built upon the sea bottom is subject to a heavy horizontal load by ice, and even a slight slide of the structure in the horizontal direction due to such ice load or an earthquake may cause serious damage to the pipes and other members which run deep into the sea bottom ground, so that the platform or artificial island must be constructed firm and steadfast. In the case of the conventional construction methods, it costs a great deal to build such a structure, and the built structure has a safety problem. Further, the conventional construction of the structure requires too much time, and therefore it is hardly possible to build the structure during the short summer in the Arctic.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is intended to solve these prior art problems and has as an object the provision of an offshore unit structure which is firm and stable and enables a low-cost, rapid construction thereof. In accordance with the present invention, a cement type solidifying agent is impregnated into and mixed with the soft ground of the sea bottom to construct a unit-volume reformed ground, and a unit structure body is built upon such reformed ground either directly or with the medium of rubble-mound.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view of the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the principal parts of the first embodiment.
FIGS. 3 to 8 are perspective views showing the several forms of the reformed ground.
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the third embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention is further described below by way of the embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a first embodiment of the present invention. In these drawings, A denotes a sea bottom soft ground, and B denotes a support ground beneath said soft ground.
In accordance with this invention, an underground mixing and processing apparatus provided with excavating blades and agitating elements is run into the sea-bottom soft ground A from a work boat and a cement type solidifying agent is charged into the ground A through said apparatus. Thus, said solidifying agent is impregnated into and mixed with the subsoil in said soft ground A, thereby constructing a unit-volume reformed (solidified) ground 1 which reaches the support ground B. Then rubble-mound 2 is laid over said reformed ground 1 and a unit structure body such as a platform 3 is built up on said rubble-mound 2.
The reformed ground 1 may be profiled in diverse ways. For example, it may take a rectangular form as a whole, such as wall-like as shown in FIG. 3, block-type as shown in FIG. 4, and lattice-shaped as shown in FIG. 5, and also may take a columnar form as a whole, such as concentric double-column as shown in FIG. 6, wheel-like as shown in FIG. 7, and block-type as shown in FIG. 8.
The platform 3, made of steel or concrete, has a skirt 32 extending downward from the periphery of a platform base 31, said skirt 32 encircling the reformed ground 1. Also, a plurality of raised strips 33 are provided on the underside of said base 31 s
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Hosomi Hisashi
Suzuki Yoshio
Yamamoto Mitsuoki
Corbin David H.
Takenaka Komuten Co. Ltd.
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