TABLE OF CONTENTS Horizontal anchors are sometimes used to moor surface vessels or buoys as well as semi-submersible or submersible structures. These anchors may be subjected to a combination of sustained and repeated loads. The application of repeated loads may create a progressive accumulative cyclic strain which will ultimately lead to the uplift of the anchor. Very few studies are available at the present time to evaluate the effect of repeated loads on anchors. Andreadis, Harvey and Burley (1978) studied the behavior of model circular anchor plates embedded in dense saturated sand and subjected to cyclic loading. For this study the embedment ratio H/h was kept at 12 (that is, deep anchor condition). The cyclic load was sinusoidal in nature with 10-second duration cycles (Figure 2-34a). In some tests, the cyclic load Q c was applied alone as shown in Figure 2-34b. Also some tests were conducted with an initial application of a sustained static load Q S and then a cyclic load of magnitude Q c, and the results of these tests are shown in Figure 2-35. In Figure 2-35, the relative anchor movement is defined as
