UNAIDED BREAKOUT OF PARTIALLY EMBEDDED OBJECTS 

 FROM COHESIVE SEAFLOOR SOILS 



Technical Report R-755 



YF 38.535.002.01.009 



by 



H.J. Lee 



ABSTRACT 



The Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory has conducted field and 

 laboratory tests to investigate the effort required to remove partially embedded 

 objects from cohesive seafloor soils. This work is intended to aid in proper 

 selection of elements for Navy salvage and rescue operations. This report pre- 

 sents the results of the tests and an analysis of the results. Procedures are given 

 for use by field engineers in predicting forces required to remove objects imme- 

 diately and in estimating times required when lesser forces are applied. The 

 accuracy of the force prediction procedure is about plus or minus 50%;. the 

 accuracy of the time prediction procedure is about plus or minus 1 00%. These 

 accuracies are comparable to those usually attainable with other time-dependent 

 soil mechanics problems and should be acceptable for typical object retrieval 

 operations. 



Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. 



Copies available at the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 

 Sills Building, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Va. 22151 



