Undoubtedly, offshore structures (i.e., wind turbines, submerged tunnels, cables, pipelines, etc.) are constantly increasing in number and size worldwide. Being floating, submerged, or fixed at the seabed, most of them require an anchoring system in order to withstand the sea currents and waves and to be kept stable. It is evident that the type of anchoring system that will be selected depends on the type of the structure, the sea depth at which they are placed, and the prevailing geological/geotechnical conditions. When the depth is relatively low and the seafloor is characterized by sediments and soft soil formations, the installation of piles may be the optimum solution.

The present study, after a short literature review of the available anchoring systems, compares analytical, numerical and some simple, but realistic, experimental simulations of vertical piles installed at the seabed. The problem that is being investigated is actually the quantitative assessment of the distress (i.e., stresses and strains) of piles that are subjected to both vertical loading (i.e., pull out) and to horizontal loading. Judging from the comparison of the results, it becomes evident that the analytical solutions, the numerical modeling and the experimental simulation are in a very good agreement, despite the uncertainties of each problem.