Theoretical analysis of hall anchor dragged in clay

A theoretical model is proposed in this paper to analyze the kinematic trajectory and rotation of the dragged hall anchor in clay. A series of laboratory model tests are conducted using a hall anchor model dragged in kaolin to verify the accuracy of the proposed theory. Fair agreements between the results obtained from laboratory model tests and those calculated from the theoretical model are achieved with differences of less than 10.5%. Parametric studies are conducted to investigate the performances of three prototype anchors dragged at different speeds in the clay with different undrained shear strengths. The results show that the soil strength and dragging speed greatly influence the behaviors of dragging anchors. The normalized maximum drag force versus soil strength curves of the three prototype anchors are quite uniform which gives curve-fitted equations with high R2 for the design of the maximum penetration depth and dragging capacity. •Theoretical model is proposed to analyze the kinematic trajectory and rotation of the dragged hall anchor in clay.•Series of model tests are conducted using scaled hall anchor models dragged in kaolin to verify the accuracy of the proposed theory.•Parametric studies are conducted to investigate the motions of the prototype anchors dragged in clay with different strengths.•Simplified formulas are proposed for the design of the maximum buried depth and dragging capacity of prototype hall anchors.