Design and application of dynamic seabed penetrators in offshore geotechnical engineering: A review

Dynamic seabed penetrators are increasingly utilised for offshore site investigation and mooring offshore floating infrastructure. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of dynamic seabed penetrator designs, performances, and data interpretations developed after the 2000s. The goal of this study is to provide essential insights into dynamic seabed penetrators, aiming to elucidate the strengths and constraints associated with various designs based on applications. This facilitates the prospective common advancements and potential refinements discussion. A brief introduction is provided on existing dynamic seabed penetrator, along with the advantages and drawbacks of their physical design. The dynamic seabed penetrators are grouped and reviewed according to their prototype model investigations, field studies, and practical applications, i.e., free-falling penetrometer (FFP) for offshore site investigation; and dynamically installed anchor (DIA) for mooring offshore infrastructure. The influence of penetrator geometry, weight, instrumentation, and the target soil type and state on the penetrator performances are also presented. Existing data interpretation models are then discussed, which take into consideration the strain rate effects, including consolidation and viscous rate effects, and the non-linear variation in capacity factor. Through the review, some research gaps are identified and highlighted, leading to potential future research opportunities.