Suction embedded plate anchors are used to moor large floating structures in deep water. The loss of embedment due to keying of plate anchor during installation needs to be predicted accurately in practical applications. The keying process of frictional anchors in normally consolidated clays is investigated using a large deformation finite element approach. In the large deformation analysis severe distortion of the soil mesh

which is induced by significant translations and rotation of the plate anchor

is avoided by frequent mesh regeneration. The maximum shear strength along the ‘anchor-soil’ interface is updated by means of current embedment depth of the anchor. The numerical results are validated by comparisons with the experimental data from centrifuge model tests. It is found that the roughness factor of ‘plate anchors-kaolin clay’ interface is valued about 0.3. Totally

the loss of embedment is increased with reduction of roughness factor; however

the loss of embedment depends on the combined influences of anchor roughness

anchor thickness ratio and eccentricity ratio of the pulling force. The influence of anchor roughness on the embedment loss may be enhanced when the thickness ratio and the eccentricity ratio become smaller.