• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.383-393
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• 2024

Monopile foundations of offshore wind turbines embedded in soft clay are subjected to the long-term cyclic lateral loads induced by winds, currents, and waves, the vibration of monopile leads to the accumulation of pore pressure and cyclic strains in the soil in its vicinity, which poses a threat to the safety operation of monopile. The researchers mainly focused on the hysteretic stress-strain relationship of soft clay and kinds of stiffness degradation models have been adopted, which may consume considerable computing resources and is not applicable for the long-term bearing performance analysis of monopile. In this study, a modified cyclic stiffness degradation model considering the effect of plastic strain and pore pressure change has been proposed and validated by comparing with the triaxial test results. Subsequently, the effects of cyclic load ratio, pile aspect ratio, number of load cycles, and length to embedded depth ratio on the accumulated rotation angle and pore pressure are presented. The results indicate the number of load cycles can significantly affect the accumulated rotation angle of monopile, whereas the accumulated pore pressure distribution along the pile merely changes with pile diameter, embedded length, and the number of load cycles, the stiffness of monopile can be significantly weakened by decreasing the embedded depth ratio L/H of monopile. The stiffness degradation of soil is more significant in the passive earth pressure zone, in which soil liquefaction is likely to occur. Furthermore, the suitability of the "accumulated rotation angle" and "accumulated pore pressure" design criteria for determining the required cyclic load ratio are discussed.

• 대한조선학회논문집
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.78-87
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• 2014

Recently the offshore wind turbine development is requested to be installed off south-west coast and Jeju island in Korea. Reliable and robust support structures are required to meet the demand on the offshore wind turbine in harsh and rapidly varying environmental conditions. Monopile is the most preferred substructure in shallow water with long term experiences from the offshore gas and oil industries. This paper presents an optimum design of a monopile connection with grouted transition piece (TP) for the reliable and cost-effective design purposes. First, design loads are simulated for a 5 MW offshore wind turbine in site conditions off the southwest coast of Korea. Second, sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the design sensitivity of geometry and material parameters of monopile connection based on the ultimate and fatigue capacities according to DNV standards. Next, optimization is conducted to minimize the total mass and resulted in 30% weight reduction and the optimum geometry and material properties of the monopile substructure of the fixed offshore wind turbine.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.167-178
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• 2024

The natural frequency shift under cyclic environmental loads is a key issue in the design of monopile-based offshore wind power turbines because of their dynamic sensitivity. Existing evidence reveals that the natural frequency shift of the turbine system in sand is related to the varying foundation stiffness, which is caused by soil deformation around the monopile under cyclic loads. Therefore, it is an urgent need to investigate the effect of soil deformation on the system frequency. In the present paper, three generalized geometric models that can describe soil deformation under two-way cyclic loads are proposed. On this basis, the cycling-induced changes in soil parameters around the monopile are quantified. A theoretical approach considering three-spring foundation stiffness is employed to calculate the natural frequency during cycling. Further, a parametric study is conducted to describe and evaluate the frequency shift characteristics of the system under different conditions of sand relative density, pile slenderness ratio and pile-soil relative stiffness. The results indicate that the frequency shift trends are mainly affected by the pile-soil relative stiffness. Following the relevant conclusions, a design optimization is proposed to avoid resonance of the monopile-based wind turbines during their service life.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.160-168
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• 2020

Depending on the water depth and composition of seabed, there exist different alternatives for the wind turbine supporting structures. Among several types of the structures, the monopile foundation is the dominant solution for support structure, accounting for over 80% of the offshore wind turbines in Europe. To develop the monopile foundation suitable for domestic ocean environment, a basic design of a transition piece was carried out. This paper presents the design procedure of a flange connected transition piece and results of the structural safety assessment.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.667-681
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• 2015

The scour induced by strong currents and wave action decreases the embedded length of monopiles and leads to a decrease of their structural stability. The objective of this study is the development and consideration of scour-monitoring techniques for offshore monopile foundations. Tests on physical models are carried out with a model monopile and geo-materials prepared in a cylindrical tank. A strain gauge, two coupled ultrasonic transducers, and ten electrodes are used for monitoring the scour. The natural frequency, ultrasonic reflection images, and electrical resistivity profiles are obtained at various scour depths. The experimental results show that the natural frequency of the model monopile decreases with an increase in the scour depth and that the ultrasonic reflection images clearly detect the scour shape and scour depth. In addition, the electrical resistivity decreases with an increase in scour depth. This study suggests that natural frequency measurement, ultrasonic reflection imaging, and electrical resistivity profiling may be used as effective tools to monitor the scour around an offshore monopile foundation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2009년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.480-485
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• 2009

Offshore wind energy is gaining more attention. Ensuring proper design of offshore wind turbines and wind farms require knowledge of the external conditions in which the turbines and associated facilities are to operate. In this work, a three-bladed 5MW upwind wind turbine, which is supported by the monopile foundation, is studied by use of fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic commercial simulation tool, 'GH-Bladed'$^{(R)}$. Specification of the structures are chosen from the OC3 (Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration) under "IEA Wind Annex XXIII-subtask2". The primary external conditions due to wind and waves are simulated. Design Load case 5.2 is investigated in this work. The steady state power curve and power production loads are evaluated. Comparison between different codes is made.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.257-282
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• 2015

In this study, the authors present a coupled fluid-structures-seabed interaction analysis of a monopile type of wind turbine foundations in liquefiable soils. A two dimensional analysis is performed with a nonlinear stiffness degradation model incorporated in the finite difference program Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC), which captured the fundamental mechanisms of the monopiles in saturated granular soil. The effects of inertia and the kinematic flow of soil are investigated separately, to highlight the importance of considering the combined effect of these phenomena on the seismic design of offshore monopiles. Different seismic loads, such as those experienced in the Kobe, Santa Cruz, Loma Prieta, Kocaeli, and Morgan Hill earthquakes, are analyzed. The pore water pressure development, relative displacements, soil skeleton deformation and monopile bending moment are obtained for different predominant frequencies and peak accelerations. The findings are verified with results in the liter.

• 한국기계가공학회지
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.31-38
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• 2022

Recently, the development of offshore wind farms based on past technical experiences from onshore wind turbine installations has become a worldwide issue. This study investigated the technical issues related to offshore wind farms and large-diameter monopiles from an economic perspective. In particular, the monopile foundation system (MFS), which is the most important part of the proposed fast construction system, is applied for the first time in Korea, and structural verification is essential because it supports large-diameter monopiles and is in charge of excavation. Therefore, in this study, a rapid construction system for large offshore wind power generators was introduced, and stability verification was performed through the structural analysis of the MFS.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제10권5호
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• pp.1143-1179
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• 2016

Offshore wind turbines are considered as a fundamental part to develop substantial, alternative energy sources. In this highly flexible structures, monopiles are usually used as support foundations. Since the monopiles are large diameter (3.5 to 7 m) deep foundations, they result in extremely stiff short monopiles where the slenderness (length to diameter) may range between 5 and 10. Consequently, their elastic deformation patterns under lateral loading differ from those of small diameter monopiles usually employed for supporting structures in offshore oil and gas industry. For this reason, design recommendations (API and DNV) are not appropriate for designing foundations for offshore wind turbine structures as they have been established on the basis of full-scale load tests on long, slender and flexible piles. Furthermore, as these facilities are very sensitive to rotations and dynamic changes in the soil-pile system, the accurate prediction of monopile head displacement and rotation constitutes a design criterion of paramount importance. In this paper, the Fourier Series Aided Finite Element Method (FSAFEM) is employed for the determination of static impedance functions of monopiles for OWT subjected to horizontal force and/or to an overturning moment, where a non-homogeneous soil profile has been considered. On the basis of an extensive parametric study, and in order to address the problem of head stiffness of short monopiles, approximate analytical formulae are obtained for lateral stiffness $K_L$, rotational stiffness $K_R$ and cross coupling stiffness $K_{LR}$ for both rough and smooth interfaces. Theses expressions which depend only on the values of the monopile slenderness $L/D_p$ rather than the relative soil/monopile rigidity $E_p/E_s$ usually found in the offshore platforms designing codes (DNV code for example) have been incorporated in the expressions of the OWT natural frequency of four wind farm sites. Excellent agreement has been found between the computed and the measured natural frequencies.

• 대한토목학회논문집
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• 제33권6호
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• pp.2401-2409
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• 2013

응답면 기법(RSM)을 이용하여 해상풍력(OWT) 모노파일에 대한 신뢰성 해석을 수행하였다. 모노파일은 해수면으로부터 15m 깊이에 설치되고 사질토에 근입되는 조건으로 고려하였다. 풍하중 및 파랑하중과 같은 해양환경하중이 작용하는 OWT 모노파일에 대한 신뢰성 해석은 KIOST에서 개발된 신뢰성 해석프로그램인 HSRBD를 이용하였다. OWT 모노파일(직경 6m)의 설계변수에 대한 민감도 분석을 수행한 결과 파일직경이 증가할수록 파일두부에서의 수평변위 및 회전각에 대한 파괴확률은 감소하나 직경이 7m 이상이 되는 경우 파괴확률의 감소율은 작아져 거의 일정해지는 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 국내기준 가운데 파일직경의 1%를 허용수평변위(60mm)로 적용하는 경우 파일의 파괴확률은 1.5%이나 최소기준인 15mm로 고려하는 경우 파괴확률은 60%로 큰 차이가 발생하므로 이에 대한 적절한 설계기준의 정립이 요구된다. 마지막으로 OWT 모노파일의 다양한 설계변수 가운데 기초지반(사질토)에 대한 내부마찰각의 불확실성이 큰 경우 이것이 파일거동에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석되었으며, 민감도 분석결과는 최적설계와 파괴확률 감소를 위해 어떠한 절차가 필요한지를 보여준다.