Abstract: To observe and analyze the motion characteristics of the drag embedment anchor (DEA) in soil, the dragging experimental apparatus comprised of glass flume, dragging system and tension sensor is established. Transparent soil is prepared using silica gel and water. Based on the ratio of the effective unit weight of plate anchor to the undrained shear strength of soil, the material of the plate anchor is chosen. At the reduced scale of 1:50 in this paper, the dragging experiment of the fixed fluke DEA with the dragging setup is performed. The effects of the padeye offset ratio and fluke angle on the travel trajectory of the fixed fluke DEA are experimentally investigated. The results show that the penetration of the anchor into the soil can be directly observed by the test setup in this paper. The tangential eccentricity and normal eccentricity of padeye are not independent. The padeye offset ratio instead of the padeye eccentricities can describe the effects of padeye offset on the travel trajectory. The fluke angle is an important parameter of influencing the travel trajectory of the fixed fluke DEA in soil. With the fluke angle increasing, the ultimate penetration depth of the fixed fluke DEA firstly increases and then decreases. With the padeye offset ratio increasing, the ultimate penetration depth of the fixed fluke DEA firstly increases and then decreases. The travel trajectory of the fixed fluke DEA in soil approximately follows a negative exponential form.

Key words: fixed fluke drag embedded anchor, padeye offset ratio, fluke angle, travel trajectory