Geotechnical Engineering Skill

Offshore geotechnical analysis domain expertise for planning soil investigations, selecting foundation design methods, and sizing geotechnical elements (piles, anchors, mudmats, scour protection).

When to Use This Skill

• Planning a geotechnical analysis campaign
• Selecting bearing capacity or pile capacity methods
• Choosing anchor type for given soil and loading conditions
• Reviewing soil parameter derivation from CPT or borehole data
• Mapping standards coverage for geotechnical calculations

Soil Classification Systems

USCS (Unified Soil Classification System)

Robertson CPT Classification (1990/2009)

Method Selection Decision Tree

Bearing Capacity

Undrained (clay)?
  ├── Yes → Brinch Hansen general formula (DNV-RP-C212 Sec 5)
  │         Nc = 5.14 for strip, shape/depth/inclination factors
  └── No (sand) → Terzaghi/Meyerhof drained bearing capacity
                   Nq, Nγ from friction angle

Pile Capacity

Soil type?
  ├── Clay → Alpha method (API RP 2GEO Sec 6.4)
  │          f = α × su; α from su/σ'v ratio
  ├── Sand → Beta method (API RP 2GEO Sec 6.5)
  │          f = K × σ'v × tan(δ); K from Table 6.5.3-1
  └── Layered → Sum unit shaft resistance per layer

Anchor Type Selection

Typical Parameter Ranges

Standard Reference Map

Module Import Paths

from digitalmodel.geotechnical.soil_models import SoilProfile, SoilLayer
from digitalmodel.geotechnical.piles import PileCapacityAnalysis
from digitalmodel.geotechnical.foundations import ShallowFoundation
from digitalmodel.geotechnical.anchors import AnchorCapacity
from digitalmodel.geotechnical.on_bottom_stability import OnBottomStability
from digitalmodel.geotechnical.scour import ScourPrediction

Related Skills

• mooring-analysis — mooring system design consuming anchor capacity
• structural-analysis — structural loads feeding foundation design
• marine-offshore-engineering — general offshore engineering context

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