Cathie Associates Marine Foundation and Offshore Geotechnical Engineering Services

Cathie Associates is one of the few companies in Europe which can provide a full range of marine foundation engineering services, independent of any offshore geotechnical or geophysical contractor. Our project experience includes:

• Desk studies
• Specification and management of offshore geotechnical and geophysical surveys
• Management of laboratory testing
• Pile installation engineering and supervision
• Cable burial assessment and trenching
• Engineering
• Expert assistance

For example, we have been called upon to design tripod foundations, verify mudmat stability, perform leg penetration assessment of jackups, and present the technical case for proposed solutions to national authorities.

Desk studies

Good practice starts with a desk study. A key to getting the best from a geophysical and geotechnical survey is to be prepared with some knowledge of the area. There are few sites in Europe where geological information is unavailable.

Offshore geotechnical and geophysical survey specification and contract management

Offshore geotechnical and geophysical surveys need careful specification, tendering and project management to obtain cost-effective results. Cathie Associates can help to obtain best value for money by carefully specifying and managing geotechnical and geophysical campaigns.

Cable trenching engineering

Often an underestimated task, installation of the inter-field cables and export cables is essential to getting a project up and running. Cathie Associates has unrivalled expertise in assessing cable burial possibilities, selecting trenching equipment and investigating alternative protection strategies.

Dynamic pile load testing and pile driving monitoring

The technology operated by Cathie Associates allows you to monitor pile capacity, soil resistance and stresses in pile and hammer behaviour. A typical team is made of three men with a team leader who is an experienced geotechnical engineer, certified by the Deep Foundation Institute. The team leader provides the contractor with a 24-hour consultancy on all piling issues, and analyses all acquired data for a preliminary assessment of the hammer / pile / soil system virtually in real time.

Our engineers are familiar with the offshore environment, and trained to liaise with barge master and deck foreman to minimize the interference with the installation schedule. Our equipment is extensively reviewed before the operations, and mobilized with 100% redundancy.

Pile driving engineering, supervision and monitoring

Through their long experience of pile installation supervision and monitoring, Cathie Associates engineers have developed a specific expertise in pile driving engineering, including piling in rock.

Our services cover pile driving prediction, analysis of driving data and consultancy services and include:

• Selection of bammer and minimum thickness pile
• Prediction of blow count and stresses in pile
• Assessment of risks of free-fall and pile damage
• Signal matching with CAPWAP
• Method by Paquet et al, 1988
• Assessment of soil parameters from driving data
• Assessment of pile capacity
• Training services
• Dynamic load testing
• Pile defect diagnostic
• Expertise for damages or conflicts
• Operations management and supervision