A Self-Contained, Dynamically Embedded Plate Anchor: Installation and Capacity-Paper

Paper

Pdf Summary

The Flying Wing Anchor (FWA) is a plate-anchor concept intended to provide economical, reliable foundations for deep-water offshore wind turbines. It combines free-fall penetration, like a torpedo anchor, with subsequent drag embedment, like a conventional plate anchor.<br /><br />A series of 1g model tests evaluated its installation and capacity in Gulf of Mexico clay. In uniform-strength clay, free-fall tests achieved tip embedment depths of about 2.1–2.6 fluke lengths. Tests in layered soil showed that the FWA could penetrate a stiff layer that impeded a conventional drag-embedment anchor.<br /><br />Pure-loading tests measured nondimensional capacity factors of 15.1 in bearing, 4.2 in in-plane shear, and 4.1 in rotation, broadly agreeing with theoretical predictions. During drag embedment, the FWA’s equivalent bearing capacity factor reached approximately 10–12. Its trajectory shape was similar across different starting embedment depths, but a deeper initial embedment produced a deeper final position.<br /><br />Compared with a conventional drag-embedment anchor, the FWA mobilized nearly twice the capacity after roughly half the drag distance. The results suggest that combining dynamic initial penetration with drag installation can improve anchor capacity and installation performance, particularly in layered seabeds.

Keywords

Flying Wing Anchor

FWA

offshore wind turbines

deep-water foundations

plate-anchor

free-fall penetration

drag embedment

Gulf of Mexico clay

anchor capacity

layered seabeds