Section 2 Footings

2.1 Introduction:
Main purpose of footings is to increase the leg's bearing area, there reducing the required capacity
of the soil to provide a solid foundation upon which the Jack Up will stand and transfer weight,
operational and environmental loads to the seabed.

2.2 Footings Types:

There are two main footing types: Mat and Spud can
1. Mat Footings:
Mat footings connect all the Jack up Unit's legs to one common footing. (Figure 1)
Mat footings typically are rectangular structures, flat on the top and bottom, and contain buoyancy
chambers which are flooded when the mat is submerged.
The basic purpose of the mat is to more uniformly distribute the concentrated loads from the legs
into the soil of the seabed and to reduce the pressure loads on the soil. The mat is also required to
resist lateral loads and it achieves this by a combination of cohesion or friction between the bottom
of the mat and the soil and lateral passive soil pressure acting on the vertical surface of the mat
that has penetrated into the soil. A scour skirt may be added to the mat to increase its lateral soil
resistance.
The foundation mat provides a moment connection to the base of each leg that serves to reduce
the bending moment in the leg at the hull level. This helps reduce the overall weight of each leg.
Since the legs are fixed to the mat, the legs stay in the same position relative to the hull. This
allows use of a jacking system that is simpler than one on an independent leg unit.
Another purpose of the foundation mat is to provide buoyancy during the afloat condition. Thus,
the depth of the mat is determined by two basic considerations:
(1) Structural integrity
(2) Adequate buoyancy to float the entire lightweight of the unit.
For a mat foundation, the mat structure may be modelled with plate elements and the legs could
be fixed to this structure.
Advantages:
 Larger size, so exerts a lower bearing pressure on the soil
 Can work in areas with soft soils
 Mats provide buoyancy in the afloat mode so jack up can carry more loads
Disadvantages:
 Cannot be used on bottoms with pipelines or debris
 Cannot be used on uneven sea beds or those with large slopes
 When refloating, water must be pumped out, this needs equipment ( pumps )
  Flooding sequence must be done carefully to not lose stability

Figure 1 Mat Footing

2. Spud-can (Independent Leg) Footings:
Spud cans are typically somewhat conical structures, with sloping tops and bottoms. (Figure 2)
The sloping top helps in sloughing off mud that may collect on top of the spud-can in the event of
deep penetration. The sloping bottom helps ensure that there will be some penetration even in very
stiff soils. Spud cans are normally designed to be free flooding when submerged, though they can
be pumped dry for internal inspection.
Most spud cans contain water jets and piping for the washing of material which may accumulate
on top of the can, and drain valves and vents to allow free-flooding capability.
The purpose of a spud can is to transfer the jack-up leg loads into the seabed below. The structure
of the spud-can should thus have the capacity to resist the resulting shear and bending stresses
exerted on it by the leg and the foundation soils.
To determine the maximum force on a spud can during the design phase, the total weight of the
upper hull during the worst design storm condition and its center of gravity is first established.
This weight is then distributed over all the legs of the jack-up platform. From the applied
environmental forces, the overturning moment is determined next. The direction of this
overturning moment should be so as to cause the maximum compressive force on one leg. An
appropriate load factor should then be applied to this force. The area of contact between the spud
can and the soil should be sufficient for the weakest chosen soil condition to support this force.
Due to uneven distribution of critical contact stresses on the spud can, the can structure and the
legs should be checked for an eccentricity moment “M”. This could be conservatively
approximated as being equal to:
M= (1/2) x FV x R
Where:
FV = Maximum design axial load on the leg
R = Equivalent radius of the spud can
Other criteria that are applied to design the structural strength of the spud can are:
(1) Assume that the entire reaction acts as a concentrated load on the tip of the spud can.
(2) Assume that the entire reaction acts on a circle centered on the tip of the spud can, whose radius
is (i) 1/4, (ii) 1/2, (iii) 3/4 and (iv) 1 times the equivalent radius of the can. The lower plating
should be designed for the resulting distributed loads.
(3) Spud cans are usually designed to be flooded during operation. To facilitate access to the inside
of the can, during the floating condition of the jack-up platform, vents may be provided to a certain
height above the top of the can. The upper plating should be designed for a hydrostatic head
corresponding to the height of this vent in case the can is not flooded.
Independent leg spud cans are simulated by providing a “pinned” support for the leg 10 ft beneath
the mudline; such an approximation has proved over time to be sufficiently conservative in
predicting moments in the leg at the level of the hull. This provides a representation of the average
restraint of the leg for various penetrations and spud can fixities.
Advantages:
 They can be used on a great variety of sea beds
 Can be used in areas with pipelines and other structures that should be avoided
 Do NOT require sensitive ballasting sequences or equipment
Disadvantages:
 Cans leave impressions in areas with soft soils
 If leg tends to slide into old impression, this may induce horizontal forces on the leg
 May be sensitive to large slopes on hard soils
 Figure 2 Spud can Footing

Figure 3 Typical profile of a spud-can penetration

2.3 PRELOAD AND SOIL PENETRATION

Jack ups are preloaded when they first arrive at a site to ensure the soil is capable of withstanding
the maximum expected footing reaction (either from the extreme storm condition or from the
operating condition) without experiencing additional leg penetration or soil failure.
The amount of leg penetration is determined by soil properties, vertical reaction of the legs, and
footing area. Generally, the larger the footing area for the same vertical reaction and soil, the lower
the penetration. The amount of soil penetration should be checked against the footing structural
capabilities and scour characteristics of the site.
Soil information and predicted penetration curves should be onboard and understood before
making the decision to preload at a site.
It is recommended that leg penetrations during preloading be recorded (i.e., generate actual
penetration vs. footing reaction curves) and compared against the predicted penetration curves, as
this information is invaluable in assessing the quality/validity of the soil assessment and will serve
to improve future calculations.

Figure 4 Example of prediction of leg penetration curve

Soil Load analysis under a spud-can:

Figure 5 Soil stress Distribution under spud can

Higher bearing pressure, which will lead to deeper penetration and thus bigger impressions and
wider variations in soil load bearing capabilities