Lateral response of monopile reinforced by cement-improved soil in clay to monotonic and cyclic loadings: Laboratory model test and theoretical investigation

A systematic study was performed in laboratory model tests to assess the response of cement-improved reinforced monopiles to lateral monotonic and cyclic loading in clay. The overall load‒deflection behavior and profile of the bending moment was fully studied in monotonic tests, in addition to the p-y curves of the reinforced and unreinforced piles. Cyclic loading tests were carried out at different cyclic magnitude values and load ratios, and the cement-improved soil reinforcement range was also varied. This study provides several insights into the ongoing development of the deflection, unloading stiffness and bending moment of cement-improved soil reinforced piles as cycling progresses, which can provide empirical design recommendations for cement-improved soil reinforced monopiles subjected to lateral cyclic loading. Based on the typical p-y curve models of pile in soft clay and stiff clay, by considering the proportion of soil resistance shared by cement-improved soil and soft clay around a pile under lateral load, the modification factors of two parameters p_u and y₅₀ are derived, and then a modified p-y curve model of cement-improved soil reinforced piles in soft clay is established.     

Field experiments on laterally loaded piles for an offshore wind farm

Pile foundations are widely used to support offshore wind turbines due to their cost effectiveness and rapid constructions. Offshore piles must be designed with enough capacity to withstand overturning moments caused by wind turbines and other environmental factors such as wave excitations and extreme winds. In this study, a full-scale field experimental test is undertaken to determine the pile behaviour under various lateral loading conditions. A distributed fiber optic sensing technology is used to measure strains along two instrumented piles. The bending moments and lateral deflections are calculated from distributed fiber optic sensors, and then analysed with the various p-y methods. Field measurements indicated that for two offshore piles ZK01 and ZK28 with diameter of 2 m and length of 71.5 m and 77.5 m, the maximum lateral movements under a given lateral load of 800 kN were 369.1 mm and 351.7 mm, respectively. The maximum bending moment occurred at 6.5 m and 5.5 m below seabed level with the corresponding depth of 12.15D and 11.95D for pile ZK01 and ZK28, respectively. The position of “zero crossing” of soil resistance for two instrumented piles is almost the same, even though the piles have different lengths. The lateral deflections and bending moments of the two instrumented piles are predicted by the API and hyperbolic method, which indicates that the hyperbolic method yields larger prediction errors than the API method. A modified p-y approach is then proposed for more reliable predictions when compared with field measurements.     

Equivalent linear pseudostatic and dynamic modelling of vertically vibrating monopile

To optimize offshore wind turbine (OWT) design, an engineering tool has been developed allowing for a detailed investigation of the effects of nonlinear soil stiffness and damping on foundation dynamics. We have studied the response of a vertically oscillating offshore wind monopile foundation in a realistic soil profile subjected to loads between 1 and 200 MN in the frequency range 0–10 Hz with pseudo-static and equivalent linear dynamic model. The non-linear soil behaviour is modelled with an equivalent linear method with shear modulus reduction and damping curves as input. The tool is verified and validated by comparison with elasto-dynamic model and experiments. With increasing load amplitudes foundation stiffness increases and damping decreases. For large load amplitudes the lower part of the pile foundation contributes more to foundation damping. The results indicate the nonlinear foundation stiffness and damping can be modelled rationally by combining stiffness and hysteretic damping from nonlinear static tools with apparent mass and radiation damping from elasto-dynamic analysis. The tool can be used to compute soil springs and dampers based on laboratory-based soil stiffness and damping.     

Hysteretic damping of soils for well conductor fatigue analysis

The fatigue assessment of a well conductor is a critical design task during offshore exploration and development of hydrocarbons. In recent years, major progress has been made towards the modelling of soil-conductor interaction. Upgraded soil-conductor interaction springs (i.e., p-y curves) and damping models are developed and are gaining acceptance by the industry. However, there is a general lack of simplified procedures to incorporate the soil damping into the time-domain structural analysis of a wellhead system. Thus, the motivation of this paper is to close this gap by proposing a simplified procedure for incorporating the soil damping in the well conductor time domain analysis. The procedure is generic and allows for convenient adoption of alterative p-y spring and damping models. Design charts for equivalent soil system damping ratio versus the lateral deflection of the conductor are developed through parametric analyses based on representative wellhead configurations with typical soil strength profiles in the Gulf of Mexico to facilitate practical design.     

Foundation damping for monopile supported offshore wind turbines: A review

Today, an important challenge for offshore wind energy is to design efficient and reliable offshore wind turbines (OWTs). The overall damping of OWTs plays an important role in the design process as it limits the amplitude of the OWT dynamic response at frequencies near resonance. Therefore, an accurate estimation of OWTs damping is necessary for the efficient design of these systems. The foundation damping is one of the main sources overall turbine damping and is the least well understood. This paper presents a critical review of recently published studies on foundation damping for OWTs on monopiles and explains how soil damping contributes to the total damping of OWTs. It also reviews the main methods that have been used for the estimation of foundation damping in numerical and experimental studies. In addition, the importance of damping to the OWTs fatigue life is discussed. Finally, a discussion is provided on the challenges to be overcome and recommendations for the accurate estimation of foundation damping.     

Hysteretic damping model for laterally loaded piles

Fatigue assessment is a critical design aspect for many offshore structures. Soil-foundation interaction has a direct impact on the system dynamic response of these structures. While the stiffness of the soil-foundation interaction influences the system's natural frequency, the damping influences the amplification of the structural response to environmental excitations. This paper presents a simplified model for estimating the soil damping due to nonlinear soil response for pile foundations, which have wide applications in the offshore industry, such as for supporting jacket platforms, wind turbines and wellhead facilities. The proposed model is fundamentally linked to the damping response of the soil measured at element level therefore it offers design engineers an efficient and accurate way to estimate soil-pile interaction damping based on site-specific soil data. Approaches to include the suggested model for structural analysis are also proposed.     

海上风电大直径单桩基础固有频率影响因素的数值分析

针对海上风电整机结构其低阶固有频率的控制问题,基于有限元分析技术开展小直径桩土相互作用的数值模拟分析,与试验结果、API规范计算结果进行对比,验证了数值模型的适用性,分析大直径单桩结构桩内土芯、冲刷深度、表层土置换措施对整机固有频率的影响,结果表明,基于有限元实体单元计算所得一、二阶整机固有频率要明显大于传统p-y方法计算结果;桩内土芯对一、二阶整机固有频率影响很小;在一定范围内,随着泥面冲刷深度的增加,一、二阶固有频率降低不明显,认为传统p-y方法对于大直径单桩的适用性有待研究;在实际工程设计中,桩内土芯的影响可忽略;对于大直径单桩,在一定范围内可以忽略冲刷的影响。     

海上风力发电机组支撑结构动力响应特性研究

支撑结构设计是大型海上风电机组设计的重要部分。文章分析了海上风电机组的各种环境载荷,并以3MW风力机组为例计算其所受环境载荷,包括作用在支撑结构顶端的由风机叶轮转动引起的水平轴向力、作用在塔筒上的风载荷以及作用在基础上的海流、海浪载荷,并采用非线性弹簧来模拟基础与海底土层之间的相互作用。在考虑风轮影响情况下,利用有限元法对支撑结构进行了模态分析。最后,分析了环境载荷作用下支撑结构的动态响应。计算结果表明,在对海上风力发电机组进行动态响应计算时,环境载荷之间的相互耦合作用不能忽略。     

浅析柴油锤海上打桩效果的相关影响因素

针对海上打桩施工过程中基桩下沉不到位的问题,在有限元软件ANSYS/LS-DYNA中以非线性、粘一弹塑性弹簧单元模拟桩一土相互作用,建立打桩下沉过程的数值模型,分析柴油锤作用下的动态土强度折减系数、入土深度、桩径、锤击能量、锤击力等因素对桩体可打人性的影响,并给出部分型号柴油锤的停锤标准,对桩基工程施工有一定的参考价值...     

Structural mechanics for design of grouted connections in monopile wind turbine structures

Over the last 30 years it has become standard practice to connect offshore oil and gas structures to their foundation piles using cylindrical shaped grouted connections with shear keys or weld beads. Circumferential shear keys, or weld beads, are provided around the outside of the piles and the inside of the pile sleeves in jacket structures to transfer forces through the grouted connection. The same methodology is also now being used by the wind energy industry to connect wind turbine support structures to their foundation piles. These structures are subjected to rather severe dynamic loading, it is therefore important to document the fatigue capacity of these grouted connections. As a direct result of this need, a joint industry project focusing on the capacity of cylindrical shaped grouted connections with shear keys was initiated by DNV in January 2011 and continued through until completion in May 2012. This project has involved fatigue testing of grouted test specimens in the laboratory, finite element analyses and assessment and development of a recommended design methodology. The design methodology includes the Ultimate Limit State and the Fatigue Limit State. Fatigue testing of full-scale specimens would require very large test setup and hydraulic actuators. Therefore special box specimens were designed with a representative radial stiffness similar to that of large diameter connections, with both full size grout thickness and geometry of the shear keys. An analytical approach for design of these specimens and for the design of grouted connections in monopiles is presented in this paper.     

Capacity and failure mechanism of monopile-wheel hybrid foundation in clay-overlaying-sand deposits under combined V–H-M loadings

Innovative monopile-wheel hybrid foundations are proposed to enhance the lateral load and moment capacities of monopile for offshore wind systems. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the bearing capacities of this hybrid foundation in clay-overlaying-sand soil conditions under combined V–H-M (vertical-horizontal-moment) loadings. Numerical models are generated and validated by comparing with laboratory experiment results and available centrifuge testing data on similar foundation systems. Parametric analysis is then carried out to quantify the effects of potential influencing factors on the failure mechanisms and bearing capacities of hybrid foundations, including the hybrid foundation geometry, soil properties, upper clay thickness, height of the lateral loading and pre-vertical load. It is found that in clay-overlaying-sand deposits, the hybrid system manifests totally different failure mechanism compared with that in uniform soil deposits. The thickness of the upper clay layer (T_c/L), within the practical range of T_c/L = 0.1–0.7, has a significant influence on the failure patterns and the bearing capacities of the hybrid system, and the proportion of bearing capacity provided by the pile and wheel is determined by the ratios of D_w/L and L/D_p. In addition, the failure envelopes in the V–H-M space manifests that the failure envelopes are shrank with the increase of the normalized vertical resistance, V/V_ult, which is highly related to the clay layer thickness (T_c/L).     

Riser-soil interaction model effects on the dynamic behavior of a steel catenary riser

A mathematical model employed to analyze the global dynamics of a Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) taking into account the interaction with the seafloor and the effect of the soil reaction forces is established. The choice of soil model plays an important role for the dynamic behavior of SCRs. The riser has been modeled using flexible beam with large curvature and elastic foundation beam to describe the riser-soil interaction by means of realistic nonlinear load-deflection (P–y) curves. The study is made to improve an existing finite element numerical code for dynamic analysis of mooring lines and risers, known as CABLE 3D, which is based on a slender rod assumption. Effects of nonlinear seabed model on the dynamic behavior of SCRs under vessel cyclic perturbation have further been investigated and discussed using a realistic P–y curve to simulate soil deformation and resistance forces. The interaction model depends on several factors, such as soil strength, penetration depth and riser characteristics. The dynamic responses of the riser Touchdown Point (TDP) excited by vessel periodic heave motion are studied and the results are compared with those from the linear spring model. SCR has been perturbed by 10 regular sinusoidal cycles and the responses calculated by improved code show a number of features such as suction force mobilization, gradual increasing penetration depth, and gradual reduction of soil resistance at maximum penetration. The riser behavior at the touchdown zone (TDZ) depends on the riser top motion amplitude, nonlinear soil stiffness and suction force. The impact of the riser-soil interaction model on the dynamic behavior in the TDZ has been thoroughly studied in this paper.     

海上风机大直径单桩双钩翻身技术

中国海上风电是绿色能源的重要一支,现已进入大规模发展阶段,其中大直径无过渡段单桩是国内海上风电场主流基础形式。为高效、安全的进行大直径单桩施工,本文通过研究一种单台起重机双钩空中翻身的技术,采用左右大张角双钩起重机、大吨位吊梁、翻桩夹具等手段,在仅需一台大型起重设备的情况,完成了大直径单桩的翻身起重作业,提高了施工效率,降低海上风电场建造成本和安全风险。     

93.5m打桩船设计研究

在20世纪,我国的打桩船均在内河和港内作业,船型小、功能低,21世纪初,随着我国海洋工程的发展,大型海上作业必须配备超大型打桩船。93.5m打桩船能打直径3m、主桩重120t的大型钢桩,该船为非自航箱型船,能抗7级风(蒲氏风级)、水流速≤0.3m/s、有义波高H1/3=0.8 m。设计过程中,研究了该船的主尺度、线型、不同工况稳性校核、船体结构、移船定位、锚泊设备、桩架受力分析和结构设计,并进行了耐波性和不同环境条件的锚系泊受力分析,经总体设计,在结合专家评审方案设计的基础上,完成施工设计并建造成功。该打桩船以优异的作业性能受到用户青睐。     

海上风电场风机桩基局部冲刷计算

建设海上风电场时,风机所处的环境十分复杂,在风、浪、流等要素的影响下,风机桩基周围会出现冲刷坑,而风机桩基的局部冲刷深度是工程设计的重要参数.采用胜利埕岛油田海洋平台桩基局部冲刷现场观测资料,对常用的两个桩基局部冲刷经验公式进行验证,并对拟建的风电场工程风机桩基的局部冲刷深度进行计算,计算结果具有一定的参考价值.     

预应力混凝土风机结构在环境载荷与5兆瓦负载下的三维分析模拟（英文）

A concrete gravity base structure may not be suitable for offshore weak soil because of its heavy weight. Therefore, a conceptual model for a concrete offshore wind turbine structure suitable for weak soils is proposed. The proposed model is composed of a prestressed concrete(PSC) supported by a pile foundation. For a three-dimensional analysis of the large concrete structure, wave pressures based on the diffraction wave theory are developed using a three-dimensional solid finite element method. Static and dynamic analyses were performed to achieve the conceptual model of a PSC structure subjected to ocean environmental loads and a 5-MW turbine load on southwest coast in Korea. From the analysis, the maximum displacement and stresses of the proposed model did not exceed the allowable values from design standard, and the first mode of natural frequency of the structure was in a safe range to avoid resonance. The proposed model has enough structural stability to withstand external loads, and it is expected to be used in locations suitable for concrete gravity structures.     

海上风电单桩稳桩平台的结构设计与安全性评估

根据海上风机基础的打桩作业要求,设计一种单桩稳桩平台,并利用ANSYS APDL软件对单桩稳桩平台在打桩作业工况、遭遇台风工况等极端典型工况的结构强度、整体稳定性和单桩稳定性进行校核。结果表明,设计的稳桩平台可满足海上复杂环境下单桩基础的定位、导向和沉桩等技术要求,为海上风电单桩稳桩平台的结构设计和安全性评估提供参考。     

Experimental study on seismic vibration control of an offshore wind turbine with TMD considering soil liquefaction effect

Wind energy is clean and sustainable. Taiwan is establishing offshore wind farms using wind turbines in the Taiwan Strait. However, these are located in an earthquake-prone area with sandy seabed conditions. To ensure their safety and reliability, the turbines’ support structure must be protected against wind, waves, and seismic loads. Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are commonly employed to reduce structural vibrations. A TMD is more simply incorporated into turbine structures than are other energy dissipation devices. In this study, a 1:25-scale test model with a TMD was constructed and subjected to shaking table tests to experimentally simulate the dynamic behavior of a typical 5-MW wind turbine with a jacket-type support structure and pile foundation. The scaled-down wind turbine model has a nacelle without rotating blades; therefore, the aerodynamic and rotational effects due to the rotating blades were ignored in this study. A large laminar shear box filled with saturated sandy ground was used to simulate the typical seabed conditions of Taiwanese offshore wind farms. The TMD system was designed to be tuned the first-mode frequency of the test model. Two ground accelerations, selected by considering wind farm site condition and near-fault characteristics, were used for excitation in the test. The responses of the test model with and without the TMD system were compared, and the influence of soil liquefaction on the effectiveness of TMD vibration control was addressed.     

近海风电场风机桩群布局对海域水动力条件的影响

为了探讨海上风力发电场规划实施后风机桩群对附近海域水位、流速、潮通量等水动力条件的影响,建立了长江口、杭州湾及其附近海域大范围平面二维潮流数学模型,研究结果表明:风机实施的影响范围及程度与工程海域的潮流特性、风机布置形式等有关,就上海风电规划而言,风电场的实施基本没有对附近海域造成较大影响。     

Study on a new method for installing a monopile and a fully integrated offshore wind turbine structure

This paper presents a preliminary technical feasibility study on a new methodology proposed for installing a monopile-based bottom supported offshore wind turbine structure. The concept is developed to address the problem of “waiting for a suitable weather window” which is commonly faced by the existing installation methods that uses a typical jack-up platform. In the methodology, a floating vessel along with a floatable subsea structure fitted with a hull on the top, hereafter named SSIP (subsea structure for installing a pile), is proposed first to install a monopile. Then the same structure is used to carry an FIUS (fully integrated upper structure) of an offshore wind turbine, which is characterized by a telescopic tower, and install it over the monopile by using an FOP (float-over-pulling) arrangement. Here, the installation methodologies are first briefly described along with the critical load cases associated with them. These load cases are then numerically studied for a significant wave height (H_S) of 2.5 m, and the results are summarized. For installing a fully integrated offshore wind turbine upper structure on a monopile foundation by the FOP method, two installation schemes are presented, and their dynamic characteristics are compared. It is shown that the proposed methodologies have potential to provide installation solutions which can be environmentally more robust compared to the existing method for installing an offshore wind turbine.