Positioning drag anchors in seabed soils are strongly influenced not only by the properties of the anchor and soil, but also by the characteristics of the installation line. The investigation on the previous prediction methods related to anchor positioning demonstrates that the prediction of the anchor position during dragging has inevitably introduced some key and unsubstantiated hypotheses and the applicability of these methods is limited. In the present study, the interactional system between the drag anchor and installation line is firstly introduced for the analysis of anchor positioning. Based on the two mechanical models for embedded lines and drag anchors, the positioning equations for drag anchors have been derived both for cohesive and noncohesive soils. Since the drag angle at the shackle is the most important parameter in the positioning equations, a novel analytical method that can predict both the variation and the exact value of the drag angle at the shackle is proposed. The analytical method for positioning drag anchors which combines the interactional system between the drag anchor and the installation line has provided a reasonable theoretic approach to investigate the anchor behaviors in soils. By comparing with the model flume experiments, the sensitivity, effectiveness and veracity of the positioning method are well verified.
Experimental and theoretical studies of drag embedment plate anchors recently carried out in Tianjin University are summarized in this research paper, which involve a series of important topics relevant to the study of drag anchors. The techniques for measuring the trajectory and movement direction of drag anchors in soils, the techniques for measuring the moving embedment point and reverse eatenary shape of the embedded drag line, the penetration mechanism and kinematic behavior of drag anchors, the ultimate embedment depth of drag anchors, the movement direction of the anchor with an arbitrary fluke section, the reverse catenary properties of the embedded drag line, the interaetional properties between drag anchor and installation line, the kinematic model of drag anchors in seabed soils, and the analytical method for predicting the anchor trajectory in soils will all be examined. The present work remarkably reduces the uncertainties in design and analysis of drag embedment plate anchors, and is beneficial to improving the application of this new type of drag anchor in offshore engineering.
