Case studies on characterization of carbonate soils and their impact on geotechnical designs

Carbonate soils are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in offshore environments. Significant deposits are found in the Middle East (Arabian Gulf), Australia (Great Barrier Reef, Northwest Shelf), and Southeast Asia. These regions share common challenges in offshore geotechnical engineering, where pile and foundation performance must account for the unique behavior of carbonate deposits due to their biogenic origin, variable cementation, and crushable grains. This paper highlights the complexities of carbonate soil, characterization methods and illustrate two examples of case study in deriving the pile capacity for Drilled & Grouted pile and driven pile normally encountered in Offshore Abu Dhabi and Offshore Saudi Arabia respectively.