August 2014 Mission Statement Background

3. Design Methodology

The design process contributed to a big part of this project. It was decided to model and test one anchor leg on these initial experiments as crucial knowledge could be gained. As this was a concept that had not been tested, calculations had to be carried out to justify selecting sand grain size, hole sizes along the anchor leg etc. Furthermore, some calculations required educated guesses at first attempt to later do adjustments. This chapter explains the wide range of areas that had to be covered during the design process before the tests could be carried out.

3.1 Designing the Experiment Layout

The experiment was carried out using a large selection of parts that are mass-produced and could therefore be easily purchased. The following items created the needed combination for the model anchor leg to be tested appropriately:

• 
  Water butt
  
• 
  Hosepipes
  
• 
  Hose lock with tap connector
  
• 
  Hose lock dual tap connector (called Y-tap in report)
  
• 
  Hose locks with hose end connector
  
• 
  Hose locks (male connector)
  
• 
  Hose lock four way tap connector
  
• 
  Hose locks with Y-connector (called Y-piece in report)
  
• 
  Ballcock
  

Some of the items are clarified in Appendix B. Filling the water butt with water and sand would create the model seabed for the testing. The water butt was approximately 8 m above ground level, where the difference in height was utilised so the anchor leg would syphon water from the tank removing the need of vacuum pump. This was achieved by having a hose directly connected to the anchor leg running all the way down to a drain at ground level.
Apart from two long lengths of hose pipes running from the top level down the 8 m to the drain, one for inducing a vacuum and one for the overflow, many smaller pieces of hose were cut up for various functions. The wide range of hose locks was then used to connect the hoses. The ballcock was used to stop over-filling of the water butt.

3.1.1 Experiment Diagram

Figure 7 Diagram of experiment design

Figure 7 illustrates the schematic layout of the experiment. The image clearly highlights the different settings the y-tap connected to the anchor leg may be set to, which are explained in point 1.

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