Evaluation of cyclic and monotonic loading behavior of bucket foundations used for offshore wind turbines

Suction caissons are considered as an alternative foundation solution for offshore wind turbines. In the present study, three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses are performed to assess the behavior of a bucket foundation and soil supporting the bucket under cyclic and monotonic loading conditions. A parametric study is also performed for a wide range of bucket geometries and two different soil densities. The results indicate that bucket geometry and soil properties significantly affect the foundation response due to cyclic loading conditions. The bucket with the smallest geometry installed in medium dense soil exhibits the lowest stiffness in initial loading and then with the progress of cyclic loads experiences lower stiffness compared to the caissons with larger geometries. The sensitivity of the foundation response to the soil density is higher than its geometry. The bucket under the lowest vertical load experiences the lowest stiffness in both virgin loading and during the progress of cyclic loads. The highest soil displacement is observed near the lid at the interior of the bucket. Stresses caused by cyclic loading belong to certain ranges. Additionally, increases in the skirt length result in increases in the stress ranges and shift the range to the right side. With respect to the monotonic loading conditions, normalized diagrams are proposed that can be used for the preliminary design of suction bucket foundations.     

海上风机吸力式桶形基础承载特性研究综述

风机基础作为海上风机整体结构的重要组成部分,承受着上部风机所受到的风浪流荷载,并且对风机的安全性及可靠性至关重要。吸力式桶形基础由于其安装简单和可重复利用等优点,在海洋平台基础中得到了广泛应用,并逐步应用于海上风机基础中。但由于海上风机与海洋平台在海洋环境中的荷载工况有一定的差别,仍需要通过对其承载特性研究现状进行全面认识,以实现吸力式桶形基础在海上风机基础中的可靠应用。文中通过总结和评价现有研究对桶形基础在不同土体条件以及荷载条件下进行试验及数值模拟分析得到的研究结果,综述了静荷载和循环荷载作用下砂土和黏土中的吸力式桶形基础的承载特性研究现状,以及海上风机吸力式桶形基础的相关研究。文章展望了目前应用于海上风机基础的桶形基础仍缺乏的研究,为海上风机吸力式桶形基础的可靠应用及后续研究提供重要参考。     

Effect of embedment on the vertical capacity of bucket foundation in loose saturated sand: Physical modeling

ABSTRACT

Bucket foundations have been widely used for a variety of offshore applications. The effects of skirt length on ultimate bearing capacity of bucket foundation have been studied and reported in published scientific papers. However, few studies have addressed the behavior of bucket foundations in loose saturated sand. In this paper, a series of experimental investigations were performed to determine the bearing capacity of bucket foundation under uniaxial loading. The experiments were conducted on small-scale foundations under vertical loading in loose saturated sand. It was found that increasing the skirt length would enhance the bearing capacity of bucket foundation. As reflected in the present study, bearing strength might be enhanced more than 5 times in loose saturated sand in comparison to surface footing with equivalent diameter. Based on the experimental investigation, a depth factor was proposed to approximate bearing capacity of bucket foundations in terms of those for surface footing and embedment ratio. Moreover, the corresponding settlement of foundation at the failure load was found to increase with skirt length.     

An investigation into the lateral loading response of shallow bucket foundations for offshore wind turbines through centrifuge modeling in sand

A shallow suction bucket is a new foundation type for offshore wind turbines. Due to its large size and bulky shape, the bucket and the soil within the bucket do not necessarily deform as a whole. Moreover, limited research has been conducted on the hydrodynamic wave influence on the shallow bucket bearing response. These factors pose great challenges to the shallow bucket foundation design. This paper presents a set of centrifuge tests of a shallow bucket model subjected to monotonic and dynamic lateral loads to study the lateral bearing response of shallow bucket foundations in the field under combined loads induced by wind, waves, etc. In addition to the routine measurements (e.g., load-displacement), the soil pressures on the bucket and the distribution and evolution of the excess pore pressures in the surrounding soils are also obtained. The deformation pattern of the bucket (e.g., rotation center) is revealed through displacement measurements. Finally, the proposed easy-to-use analytical equations using the limit equilibrium to assess the bearing capacity of bucket foundations, taking into account the influence of the soil strength degradation caused by hydrodynamic wave loadings, are found to yield good results upon comparison with the centrifuge data, providing useful guidelines for the design of shallow bucket foundations.     

Centrifuge modelling of lateral loading behaviour of a “semi-rigid” Mono-pile in soft clay

Abstract

Mono-pile foundations have been widely used for offshore wind turbines principally due to their convenient construction and cost-effective nature. So far, little attention has been paid to large diameter “semi-rigid” piles that have distinct behaviours from flexible or ideally rigid piles. This paper presents a series of centrifuge model tests to study the deforming and bearing characteristics of a 5.9 dia. semi-rigid pile under lateral loadings in kaolin clay. For monotonic loading, a modified p–y curve analysis model considering rotational soil flow near the rotation centre of pile was proposed, highlighting the limitation of classic plane-strain based plasticity models to evaluate the ultimate lateral pile-soil resistance. For cyclic loading, a strong correlation between the degree of soil degradation and cyclic load amplitude was identified. Besides, a degradation factor model, accounting for various cyclic stress levels and soil depths, was proposed, which can be used to assess the accumulative displacement of semi-rigid piles under cyclic loadings in soft clay.     

Investigating the monotonic behaviour of hybrid tripod suction bucket foundations for offshore wind towers in sand

Existing tripod suction bucket foundations, utilised for offshore wind turbines, are required to resist significant lateral loads and overturning moments generated by wind and currents. This paper presents an innovative type of tripod bucket foundation, ‘hybrid tripod bucket foundation’, for foundations of offshore wind turbines, which has the ability to provide a larger overturning capacity compared with conventional tripod buckets. The proposed foundation consists of a conventional tripod bucket combined with three large circular mats attached to each bucket. A series of experiments were conducted on small-scale models of the proposed foundation subjected to overturning moment under 1g conditions in loose sand. Different circular mat diameter sizes with various bucket spacings were considered and the results were compared with conventional tripod bucket foundation. Finite element models of the proposed foundation were developed and validated using experimental results and were used to conduct a parametric study to understand the behaviour of the hybrid tripod bucket foundation. The results showed that there is a significant increase in overturning capacity provided by the novel foundation. The results of this work can significantly improve lowering the costs associated with installation of foundations to support offshore wind turbines.     

Effects of installation on the cyclic axial behaviour of suction buckets in sandy soils

Suction buckets differ with their easy and cost-efficient installation technique from other foundation types for offshore wind turbines. For successful completion of their installation process, suction is essential, but the imposed seepage leads to the changes in states of the soil in and around the bucket. Especially, a loosening of soil inside the bucket affects the load carrying behaviour of bucket subjected to repetitive loading resulting from environmental conditions. In this study, the behaviour of buckets under cyclic axial compressive loads with considering a possible loosening and related changes in permeability of soil inside the bucket is investigated numerically. In the framework of finite element analysis, a fully coupled two-phase model and a hypoplastic constitutive model are used to describe the saturated sandy soil behaviour under repetitive loading. The porosity-permeability variation is taken into account by Kozeny–Carman relationship. Special attention is dedicated to load carrying behaviour of bucket top plate, inner and outer skirt as well as base and their changes resulting from a loosening of soil inside the bucket with variable aspect ratio. For this purpose, cyclic axial compressive loads which cause an attenuation and progressive failure of soil-bucket system response are considered. The main findings on the changes in load carrying behaviour of bucket are presented and discussed.     

Investigation of the load-bearing capacity of suction caissons used for offshore wind turbines

This paper presents the results of three-dimensional finite element analyses of the suction bucket foundation used for offshore wind turbines. The behavior of the bucket and the response of soil supporting the bucket in dense and medium dense sandy soils subjected to static horizontal load are investigated. Field tests results and a centrifuge model test are used to validate the numerical model. Dimensionless horizontal load-displacement and overturning moment-rotation relationships are derived utilizing the Power law and Buckingham’s theorem. The results show good agreement between the numerical analysis results and the straight lines obtained from the Power law until a specific value of horizontal load and overturning moment. Regarding stress behavior of soil supporting the bucket, due to soil densification and bucket movement, maximum stresses are seen near the bucket tip at the right inside of the bucket. The major part of the applied load is transferred by the bucket skirt. Numerical analysis modeling results show that the bucket rotation and displacement are highly dependent on the bucket geometry and soil properties in addition to loading conditions. Normalized equations and figures for the ultimate horizontal load and overturning-moment capacities are presented and can be used for the preliminary design of the bucket foundations in sandy soils.     

Effects of long-term cyclic horizontal loading on bucket foundations in saturated loose sand

A 1-g model experimental study was conducted to investigate the accumulated rotations and unloading stiffness of bucket foundations in saturated loose sand. One-way horizontal cyclic loading was applied to model bucket foundations with embedment ratios 0.5 and 1.0. Up to 10⁴ cycles of loading were applied at a frequency of 0.2 Hz varying load amplitudes. The accumulated rotation of the bucket foundations increased with the number of cycles and the load amplitudes. Empirical equations were proposed to describe the accumulated rotation of the foundations. The unloading stiffness of foundations increased with the number of cycles but decreased with an increase in load amplitude. The initial unloading stiffness of L/D = 1.0 (L is skirt length; D is foundation diameter) was approximately twice that of L/D = 0.5. Excess pore water pressure difference of 50% was observed between L/D = 0.5 and 1.0. The suction and static capacity of the bucket increased with increase of bucket embedment ratio with a difference of 69.5% and 73.6% respectively between L/D = 0.5 and 1.0.     

Experimental investigation of the system behaviour of a model three-legged jack-up on clay

Results from combined loading experiments dedicated to evaluating the capacity and stiffness of a single footing have significantly improved the understanding of the response of circular shallow foundations. However, due to experimental practicalities, little corroborative evidence is available to confirm predicted behaviour when multiple footings act within a structural system. This paper addresses this concern by presenting the results of a series of experimental tests on a three-legged model jack-up unit founded on soft, heavily overconsolidated clay. The model adopted geometric features representative of a large prototype rig by appropriately scaling leg height, leg separation and flexural stiffness, as well as the ‘spudcan’ footing diameter and profile. Pushover events were considered by subjecting the model jack-up to monotonic horizontal loading at hull level. By measuring loads and displacements at the hull and at each spudcan, the system behaviour of the jack-up could be analysed. Nine separate tests were performed, revealing how load orientation, leg length and preload ratio changed the system capacity and affected the load–displacement paths of the jack-up and spudcan system. The test results are compared with those derived from single spudcan experiments, and are interpreted within the combined load yield surface approach gaining acceptance within the offshore industry.     

离岸裙式吸力基础在砂土地基中沉贯性研究

吸力基础是海洋工程中新型的一种基础型式,广泛应用于海洋平台、海洋浮动式结构等,近年来,也被作为浅海离岸风力发电工程的基础。吸力基础易遭受较大的水平动力荷载和弯矩,从而可能产生较大水平位移和转角;同时,由于海床冲刷,会降低其承载能力。为克服这些不足,提出了一种新型吸力基础———裙式吸力基础,把分析传统吸力基础砂土中的沉贯方法,拓广到裙式吸力基础中,研究该基础型式在砂土中的可沉贯性以及所需的吸力;并与同情况下的传统吸力基础进行了比较,证明了所提出的裙式吸力基础具有较好的沉贯性能,具有工程实践推广价值。     

海上风机吸力基础的水平受荷研究综述

吸力基础具有施工速度快、安装过程中受海况天气影响小且易于回收重复利用等优点,被广泛应用于海洋工程。当吸力基础作为海上风电塔架的基础时,常常承受较大的水平荷载,因此其水平承载力是设计的主控因素。介绍了海上风机基础的设计要求,分析了影响基础水平承载性状的因素,总结了吸力基础受水平单调荷载、水平循环荷载和不同荷载组合三个方面的研究现状。讨论了水平荷载的大小、水平加载的高度(偏心率)、循环荷载的频率、循环荷载的次数、循环荷载的幅值、循环荷载的方向性、竖向荷载对吸力基础水平承载性状的影响,考虑了水平荷载的非共线性,指出了目前研究的不足,明确了吸力基础水平承载性状进一步研究的方向,提出了供工程实践参考的建议。     

复合加载下桶形基础循环承载性能数值分析

作为一种新型基础形式,吸力式桶形基础除了承受海洋平台结构及自身重量等竖向荷载的长期作用之外,往往还遭受波浪等所产生的水平荷载及其力矩等其它荷载分量的瞬时或循环作用。对复合加载模式下软土地基中桶形基础及其结构的循环承载性能尚缺乏合理的分析与计算方法。应用Andersen等对重力式平台基础及地基所建议的分析方法,基于软黏土的循环强度概念,在大型通用有限元分析软件ABAQUS平台上,通过二次开发,将软土的循环强度与Mises屈服准则结合,针对吸力式桶形基础,基于拟静力分析建立了复合加载模式下循环承载性能的计算模型,并与复合加载作用下极限承载性能进行了对比。由此表明,与极限承载力相比,桶形基础的循环承载力显著降低。     

Load-bearing behavior of suction bucket foundations in sand

Suction buckets are a promising foundation solution for offshore wind energy systems. The bearing behavior of monopod buckets under drained monotonic loading in very dense and medium dense sand is investigated in this study by means of numerical simulation with the finite element method. Special focus is given to the ultimate capacity and the initial stiffness of the bucket-soil foundation system. The numerical model is validated by comparison with field test results. The bearing behavior of the structure is explained through an evaluation of a reference system. It is shown that the bucket experiences a heave during horizontal loading, which leads to the formation of a gap between the bucket lid and the soil with increasing load. At large loads and rotations close to failure of the system there is no contact between lid and soil, and the whole load is transferred to the soil via the bucket skirt. A parametric study shows how the ultimate capacity and initial stiffness of the system depend on the bucket dimensions and loading conditions, i.e. load eccentricity. Normalized equations for ultimate capacity and initial stiffness are derived from the numerical simulation results, which can be used in the scope of a preliminary design for buckets in sand.     

Experimental investigation of the vertical pullout cyclic response of bucket foundations in sand

A series of 1 g model tests was conducted to investigate the accumulated vertical pullout displacement and unloading stiffness of bucket foundations embedded in dry and saturated sands. The foundations were subjected to vertical pullout cyclic loading with different load amplitudes. Cyclic load was applied up to 10⁴ cycles. Test results showed that the accumulated vertical pullout displacement increased with the increase in the number of load cycles and cyclic load amplitudes. The unloading stiffness of the bucket foundations decreased with the increase in load amplitude and number of cycles. Empirical equations were proposed based on the test results to evaluate the accumulated vertical pullout displacement and unloading stiffness of the bucket foundations in saturated sand. These equations can be used for the preliminary design of single or tripod bucket foundations.     

Upper Bound Solution of the Resisting Moment Bearing Capacity of A Composite Bucket Shallow Foundation of An Offshore Wind Turbine in Sand

China Ocean Engineering - Bearing the large moment that is generated by the wind load that acts on the upper structure of offshore wind turbines is an important feature of their foundations that is...     

A simplified calculation method for axial cyclic degradation of offshore wind turbine foundations in clay

Abstract

Pile foundation is the most popular option for the foundation of offshore wind turbines. The degradation of stiffness and bearing capacity of pile foundation induced by cyclic loading will be harmful for structure safety. In this article, a modified undrained elastic–plastic model considering the cyclic degradation of clay soil is proposed, and a simplified calculation method (SCM) based on shear displacement method is presented to calculate the axial degradated capacity of a single pile foundation for offshore wind turbines resisting cyclic loadings. The conception of plastic zone thickness R_p is introduced to obtain the function between accumulated plastic strain and displacement of soil around pile side. The axial ultimate capacity of single piles under axial cyclic loading calculated by this simplified analysis have a good consistency with the results from the finite element analysis, which verifies the accuracy and reliability of this method. As an instance, the behavior of pile foundation of an offshore wind farm under cyclic load is studied using the proposed numerical method and SCM. This simplified method may provide valuable reference for engineering design.     

Undrained Bearing Capacity of Suction Caissons for Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations by Numerical Limit Analysis

Determining the ultimate capacity of suction caissons in response to combined vertical, horizontal, and moment loading is essential for their design as foundations for offshore wind turbines. However, the method implemented for stability analysis is quite limited. Numerical limit analysis has an advantage over traditional limit equilibrium methods and nonlinear finite element methods in this case because upper and lower bounds can be achieved to ensure that the exact ultimate capacity of the caisson falls within the appropriate range. This article presents theories related to numerical limit analysis. Simulations are conducted for centrifuge model tests, the findings of which reveal the ability of numerical limit analysis to deal with the inclined pullout capacity of suction caissons. Finally, this article proposes an estimation of the ultimate capacity of a 3.5 MW offshore wind turbine foundation on normally consolidated clay based on the typical environmental parameters of Bothkennar, Scotland. Undrained failure envelopes and safety factors are obtained for suction caissons with different embedment ratios. Failure mechanisms, plastic zones, clay stress distributions, and the influence of the skin friction coefficients of caissons are discussed in detail.     

Un- and reloading stiffness of monopile foundations in sand

The eigenfrequency of offshore wind turbine structures is a crucial design parameter, since it determines the dynamic behavior of the structure and with that the fatigue loads for the structural design. For offshore wind turbines founded on monopiles, the rotational stiffness of the monopile-soil system for un- and reloading states strongly affects the eigenfrequency. A numerical model for the calculation of the monopile’s behavior under un- and reloading is established and validated by back-calculation of model and field tests. With this model, a parametric study is conducted in which pile geometry, soil parameters and load conditions are varied. It is shown that of course the rotational stiffness varies with mean load and magnitude of the considered un- and reloading span, but that for most relevant load situations the initial rotational stiffness of the monopile system, i.e. the initial slope of the moment-rotation curve for monotonic loading, gives a good estimate of the actual stiffness. Comparisons of different p–y approaches show that the ordinary API approach considerably underestimates the initial stiffness, whereas the recently developed ‘Thieken’ approach and also the ‘Kallehave’ approach give a much better prediction and thus might be used in the design of monopiles in sand.     

Experimental study on wide-shallow composite bucket foundation for offshore wind turbine under cyclic loading

As an appropriate type of foundation for offshore wind turbines (OWTs), wide-shallow composite bucket foundation (WSCBF) is cost-competitive, and it has a unique and special substructure that comprises seven internal rooms arranged in a honeycomb-like structure. In this study, the cyclic behavior of WSCBF for OWTs embedded in saturated clay was investigated using a large-scale model subjected to lateral cyclic loading. The responses of foundation under constant- and various-amplitude cyclic loadings were recorded in terms of displacements, rotations, and bending moments. The variations in stiffness and damping were obtained, and a collaborative bearing mechanical model between the bucket and soil was considered, which was beneficial for improving the stiffness of the whole structure. Accumulative deformation was found to have little effect on the bearing capacity of the foundation. Dynamic analysis in frequency domain was further performed on both moment and rotation data, and the complex, frequency-dependent impedance was also studied.