Patent ID: 8684630

Claim:
Underwater concrete silo for offshore drilling and production operations, which comprises: (a) a reinforced concrete foundation secured at or into the seabed and, if required for resistance to wind and water actions, steel piles and batter steel piles or anchors embedded into the seabed; (b) an annular exterior vertical reinforced concrete wall supported by said foundation; (c) an annular interior vertical reinforced concrete wall supported by said foundation and housing a central cell; (d) a series of radial shear walls extending between said annular exterior concrete wall and said annular interior concrete wall to form a series of perimeter cells; and (e) a roof and series of horizontally extending service platforms supported off said annular outer concrete wall and said annular inner concrete wall, the underwater concrete silo embedded into the seabed an appropriate vertical distance, where the weight of the underwater concrete silo including ballast exceeds the buoyancy force on the underwater concrete silo, where the weight of the underwater concrete silo including ballast and buoyancy subjects the seabed to appropriate bearing pressures and where overturning moments and shear forces resulting from wind and water actions on the underwater concrete silo subjects the seabed to appropriate passive pressures.