Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Drag Anchors

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Ocean Engineering

  • 34 Accesses

Synonyms

Drag Anchor, Fluke anchor, Plate anchor, or VLA; FPSO; Offshore Floating Module

Definition

Drag anchors, which are evolved from conventional ship anchors, are usually penetrated into seabed by drag vessels to transmit an applied tensile load mainly through the fluke to a load bearing stratum.

Scientific Fundamentals

Types of Drag Anchors

Drag anchor is an important component of mooring system in deep water applications. It mainly consists of a broad fluke (providing main resistance, Fig. 1) and a shank (connecting the fluke to the mooring line, Fig. 2). Traditionally, the angle between them is fixed with a potential adjustment before penetration to the seabed but various in different soils, 50° for clay and 30° for sand, etc. (Randolph and Gourvenec 2011). The capacity of the drag anchor is mobilized primarily by the bearing resistance and side resistance on the anchor fluke and the friction along the embedded portion of mooring lines (Fig. 2), usually it can develop a...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • API, RP2SK (2005) Design and analysis of station keeping systems for floating structures. American Petroleum Institute

    Google Scholar 

  • DNV (2017) Design and installation of fluke anchors in clay. Recommended practice DNV-RP-E301

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao FP, Li JH, Qi WG, Hu C (2015) On the instability of offshore foundations: theory and mechanism. Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy 58(12):124701-01-15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim BM (2005) Upper bound analysis for drag anchors in soft clay. Doctoral dissertation, A&M University

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu HX, Zhang W, Liu CL, Hu C (2012) Movement direction of drag anchors in seabed soils. Appl Ocean Res 34(2012):78–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merifield RS, Sloan SW, Yu HS (2001) Stability of plate anchors in undrained clay. Geotechnique 51(2):141–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murff JD, Anderson H (2001) Deepwater anchor design practice-first year report to API. Offshore Technology Research Center, Texas A&M University, College Station

    Google Scholar 

  • Neubecker SR, Randolph MF (1996) The performance of drag anchor and chain systems in cohesive soil. Marine georesources & geotechnology 14(2):77–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill MP, Neubecker SR, Erbrich CT (2011) Installation and in-place assessment of drag anchors in carbonate soil. In: Frontiers in offshore Geotechnics II. Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp 747–752

    Google Scholar 

  • Randolph M, Gourvenec S (2011) Offshore geotechnical engineering. Taylor & Francis, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson D, Beasley DJ, True DG, Lin ST, Briaud JL, Seelig WN, Jung B (2012) Handbook for marine geotechnical engineering (No. NFESC-SP-2209-OCN). Naval Facilities Engineering Command Port Hueneme CA Engineering Service Center

    Google Scholar 

  • Vryhof Anchors (2015) Anchor manual 2015–the guide to anchoring. Global Maritime, Vryhof Anchors

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu XN (2017) Numerical modelling of behavior of drag anchors. PhD thesis, National University of Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W (2011) Penetration mechanism and kinematic behavior of drag anchor. PhD thesis, Tianjin University

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Offshore Geotechnical Engineering, Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China

    Cun Hu

Authors
  1. Cun Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cun Hu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hadal Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China

    Weicheng Cui

  2. School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Shixiao Fu

  3. School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

    Zhiqiang Hu

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Yinghui Tian

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Hu, C. (2021). Drag Anchors. In: Cui, W., Fu, S., Hu, Z. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ocean Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6963-5_208-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6963-5_208-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6963-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6963-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation