Set-up and Test Procedure for Suction Installation and Uninstallation of Bucket Foundation

This technical report describes the set-up and the test procedures for installation and uninstallation of medium-scale model of bucket foundation that can be performed in the geotechnical part of laboratory in Aalborg University. The installation of bucket foundation can be tested with the use of suction under the bucket lid or by applying additional force through the hydraulic piston, forcing the bucket to penetrate into the soil. Tests for uninstallation are performed also with the use of water pressure, as a reverse process to the suction installation. Both installation and uninstallation tests are adjusted for additional weight that simulates different self-weight of foundation. The medium-scale model of bucket foundation corresponds to 1:10 of a prototype model. Additionally, the procedure for soil preparation and the data acquisition methods are provided. The sand box (Large Yellow Box) and loading frame used for those tests have been already used for axially static and cyclic loading of piles (Thomassen, 2015a) and for axially static and cyclic loading of bucket foundation (Vaitkunaite et al., 2015).