Date of Award

Fall 2025

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Julie Paprocki

Second Advisor

David W Fredriksson

Third Advisor

Fei Han

Abstract

As the offshore industry has expanded, innovative anchor systems need to be designed to meet the unique geotechnical engineering constraints presented by offshore sediments, as well as address the constraints presented by offshore industries such as renewable energies or aquaculture systems. For the design and application of successful anchor systems, a thorough understanding of the geotechnics and behaviors of offshore sediments is a necessity. Thus, geotechnical site characterization for proposed infrastructure locations is a vital first step through methods such as sample collection, laboratory analysis, and in-situ testing. Currently, there are often high costs associated with establishing the required soil properties needed to design such systems. Portable free fall penetrometers (pFFP) are an emerging and advantageous tool for initial offshore investigations due to its compact size, ease of use, and versatile ability to measure crucial geotechnical information such as pore pressure response and bearing capacities. In particular, this device can be used at shallow nearshore sites to perform an initial site characterization of the upper few centimeters of seabed to aid in the planning of detailed site surveys. Recent work has resulted in sediment classification frameworks dividing soils into sands and clays, but did not validate these frameworks for dual soil classifications (i.e., sands with 5-12% fines). This work demonstrates the use of pFFPs for testing sediments off the shores of New Castle, New Hampshire and Eliot, Maine for the purpose of understanding the shallow soil characteristics of dual classification sediments. Current pFFP-based empirical methods of estimating geotechnical soil parameters are verified through sample reconstitution and laboratory analysis. It is anticipated that the results of this work will be used to aid in the selection of sites for detailed in situ measurements.

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